Supervisors set tax levy hearing, talk railroad crossing west of State Center
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During another relatively brief meeting on Wednesday morning, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved setting the public hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2025 property tax levy for March 25 and discussed the potential closure of a railroad crossing west of State Center with County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt.
After Supervisor Steve Salasek made a motion to set the hearing for the March 25 meeting at 9 a.m., resident Mark Eaton pointed out that the documents breaking down the tax levy, which are required to be published in the newspaper ahead of the hearing, were not attached to the meeting packet and mentioned the difficulty in understanding how taxes will be affected with the recent increase in property valuations.
"If you took that $100,000 (assessment) and increased it to a $120,000 house and ran the numbers, your taxes would grow just slightly. I think the state and accounting and everybody's doing a good job to kind of keep those, but I just wanted to mention and I just want to ask that you attach these documents, maybe, to this agenda for posterity and for the record, like when we're going back, guys like me, researching stuff, it's there," Eaton said.
The supervisors said they do normally attach the document to the packet on the day of the hearing, and Chairman Jarret Heil then delved into a few more of the details on the overall tax picture like the state rollback. County Assessor Blaze Wurr provided an example and said with his own department's budget, the tax levy would be decreasing by about $3 to $5 per household.
Letters will be sent out to county property owners on March 20, and Maria Vargas-Gonzalez of the Auditor/Recorder's Office said she wasn't exactly sure what all information would be included but had a webinar scheduled later in the same day that she hoped would give her more clarity.
Heil was happy to report that the overall consolidated county levy is set to drop $0.36 per $1,000 of valuation from $9.66 in the current fiscal year to a proposed rate of $9.30 for FY2025. And due to 6.65 percent growth, the amount of taxes collected will actually increase 1.9 percent despite the decrease in the levy rate.
"We're keeping taxes low, and that's what keeps the people happy paying the bill. But we're still getting the bills paid and providing all the services that we need to," Heil said.
The motion then passed unanimously.
During the public comment period, Marshall County Buildings and Grounds Director Lucas Baedke said he had received a quote on a secure door for the assessor's office that was "pretty high" at around $16,500, but he had ideas on how to reduce it and planned to work with Breiholz Construction on some options.
Geilenfeldt then mentioned that he had been approached by Alliant Energy about putting in a new substation just west of State Center on a Level B dirt road section of Canfield Avenue. The company plans to make a cost share proposal, according to Geilenfeldt, and the Union Pacific railroad has a "very marginal" crossing in the area.
"As a part of this, I am gonna propose that we close that crossing. I haven't talked to the sheriff about it, but I know that that is a safety hazard just because of the grade that crossing has. It's a crossing that's a really steep approach on both sides of the rail, so it's a place where a trailer will get high centered if someone tried to pull a trailer through there," Geilenfeldt said.
The engineer and the supervisors utilized the Beacon website to figure out who the adjacent property owners were, and Sheriff Joel Phillips joked that he knew the road as "Beer Can Alley."
Geilenfeldt didn't feel that the cost of improving the grade at the crossing would be a worthwhile expense, and there's currently limited visibility, no lights and no crossing arms.
"What I want to get the word to area landowners is, 'Is there an ag purpose for this crossing to be left open?' Because if not, I think we should close it because it's a hazard, and I just wanted to get that in front of you," he said. "I don't have anything formal from Alliant yet. Maybe on the next meeting we'll have something, but I want to first investigate whether or not we can close the crossing because I feel like we're creating a problem if we approve that road to the north and leave that crossing open."
Before he wrapped up, Geilenfeldt said his maintenance superintendent, Brad Nichols, is from the area in question and could speak with the landowners to inquire about how much the crossing is used, and he also planned to check with the Blood Dairy Farm to see if they use it for hauling of any kind.
Wurr also commented that assessment rolls are being finalized this week, and he hopes to send them out slightly earlier than April if possible.
"That way, property owners who see changes or want to protest their value, they kind of have a heads up for those letters coming out," he said.
In other business, the board:
• Recognized Brian Pansegrau (Secondary Roads) for five years of service, Austin Ewalt (Secondary Roads) for 10 years of service, and Deputy Wesley Beane of the Marshall County Sheriff's Office for 25 years of service.
• Approved the consent agenda as listed, including the hire of Salvador Beltran as a janitorial maintenance technician at a pay rate of $22 per hour to start on or after Feb. 28.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the Marshall County Conservation Board director, MCCB chair, and the board of supervisors to sign documents at the Marshall County Farm Service Agency.
• Approved the allowance of a homestead credit exemption for 2023 for a parcel at 2003 S. 5th Ave. in Marshalltown.
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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.