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County officials plan for combined school, city elections

T-R File Photo The Marshall County supervisors, along with Auditor and Recorder Nan Benson, say they would rather see school districts and cities pay for the upcoming combined 2019 elections than have the county foot the bill.

A state law passed two years ago will be coming into effect in July will majorly change local elections.

Across the state, city and school elections will now be combined. The new law replaces old rules that had school elections in September and city elections in November of odd-numbered years.

“It was originally done for cost savings, is why the (state) legislature did so,” said Marshall County Auditor and Recorder Nan Benson, the county’s lead elections official. “When we really get down to all the publications and all the different ballots it’s going to cause, it’s maybe going to cost the same and maybe a little more.”

She brought up the topic at Tuesday’s Marshall County Board of Supervisors meeting after holding discussions with several other county auditors across the state. Specifically, she said one option to simplify the process would be to have the counties foot the bill for the city and school elections.

Such a move would make it easier on county officials, who would otherwise have to separate the costs of the school and city elections to bill each government entity correctly. Proponents of the county paying for the elections also say the cost savings could mean cities and counties could reduce their tax levy amounts.

However, Benson said she would prefer Marshall County not pay for the city and school elections coming up in 2019.

“Yes, it takes an Excel spreadsheet and a little bit of time, but we can bill it out appropriately,” she said.

The supervisors agreed with her.

“If it’s not overwhelming for your people, I would also feel the same way,” said board member Steve Salasek. Board Chairman Bill Patten and Vice Chairman Dave Thompson said they would prefer to see the school and city pay for their own respective elections.

The county officials estimated a normal city election to cost about $8,000, while a school election comes in closer to $10,000.

Benson said the combined elections will make for a lot of work to ensure every voter in the county sees the correct candidates for the various city and school district positions that are up in 2019. Because school districts and cities have different boundaries, two voters in the same city may live in different school districts, for example.

Despite the logistical challenges the combined elections present, Benson said there are parts of the law she likes.

“What it is going to do, I think, is it’s going to get voter attendance up … so, I think that’s a good thing,” Benson said.

She also said the combined elections will see voters come to their normal general election precinct voting locations. Previously, school district voting locations could differ from those of general elections.

Benson also said some of the issues with the current law may be fixed by the state legislature this upcoming session.

“This new law is actually effective July 1, so they do have some time to create this technical bill,” she said.

Some fixes lawmakers may add could be to make the official vote canvassing date the same for the city and county elections, as well as aligning the amount of days after a ballot is turned in that votes can be counted toward an election, Benson said.

No action was taken regarding the new combined elections at Tuesday’s supervisors meeting.

The 2019 school/city election is set for Nov. 5, 2019, according to the Iowa Secretary of State website.

For more information, visit https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/clerksecretary.html

Other business

Along with a discussion about the upcoming city and school elections next year, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors took several actions at Tuesday’s meeting.

• The supervisors adopted a resolution accepting the assessed and taxable values of utility companies. The grand total of the valuations came to $735 million, with $201 million in taxable valuations. Utility entities included in the valuations were telephone and energy providers, as well as the Union Pacific Railroad.

•County offices housed in the Great Western Bank building, 11 N. First Ave., will be closed at department head discretion on Jan. 21 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The bank will be closed that day and the supervisors voted to align with the bank’s holiday for county employees working in the building.

•A purchase of a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 truck was approved for the county buildings and grounds department. The bid of $24,733 was approved from local dealer Dave Wright Auto to replace an approval for the same vehicle from Deery Brothers of Ames made on Dec. 11. The new bid is $500 more than the Deery Brothers bid, but the supervisors said the added cost was worth doing business with a local vendor.

•The supervisors approved several re-appointments to county boards and commissions. Those include Steve Armstrong to a five-year term on the Marshall County Conservation Board; Jalene Primus to a one-year term for the Green Mountain Street Lighting District; Kim Elder and Rita Riskedahl to three-year terms on the Marshall County Board of Health; Allen Fagerland, Rich Byers and Anne Vance to three-year terms on the Mental Health/Disability Services Advisory Board; Ron Goecke to a three-year term on the Zoning Commission; John Kunc to a one-year term as Marshall County Zoning Administrator, Public Environmental Health Director and Weed Commissioner; Paul Geilenfeldt to a three-year term (in conjunction with contract) as county engineer and Dr. David Bethel to a two-year term (in conjunction with contract) as the county medical examiner. Terry Collins was appointed to a 5-year term on the county Board of Adjustment.

The next Marshall County Board of Supervisors meeting is set for 9 a.m. Jan. 2, 2019 on the second floor of the Great Western Bank building, 11 N. First Ave.

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Contact Adam Sodders at (641) 753-6611 or

asodders@timesrepublican.com

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