(Spirit Lake)– Finishing touches are being put on Dickinson county’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. And there’s good news for taxpayers: it reflects a decrease of about two cents per thousand dollars valuation for the Rural Services Levy, while the General Fund Levy will decrease some 23 cents per thousand dollars valuation.
The proposed budget calls for a Rural Services Levy of $1.65 per thousand dollars valuation…compared with $1.67 currently. The General Fund Levy is $2.50, compared with $2.73 per thousand dollars valuation currently.
Supervisor Mardi Allen attributes the decreased levies to 680-thousand dollars in additional revenue from fiscal year 2006 that hadn’t been forecasted for, in addition to about 400-thousand dollars in unspent expenses…adding about a million dollars to the carryover in the 2007 FY budget.
Allen says they decided to make that right with the taxpayers by reducing the levies for the upcoming fiscal year. But she says that didn’t come without some reservations. Allen says supervisors hope they didn’t lower the levies too much should the Iowa Legislature put a freeze on them. She says that could come back to haunt the county a couple years down the road.
A public hearing on the county’s proposed budget is set for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 13th.
