T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY From left to right, Marshall County Supervisors Steve Salasek, Jarret Heil and Carol Hibbs discuss business during Wednesday morning’s regular meeting at the courthouse.

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors whizzed through another quick regular meeting with a light agenda on Wednesday morning, but not before discussing the effort to get the one percent Local Option Sales and Service Tax (LOSST) on the ballot in the November election and the impact of the tax on the county budget.

As the conversation kicked off, Board Chairman Jarret Heil indicated that he didn’t expect to take any official action but wanted to put it on the radar ahead of the November election as a petition to get the LOSST renewal on the ballot is currently circulating. Heil noted that the tax generated $1.626 million for the county last year.

“That’s a key piece of our budget, and if we would lose the LOSST, that would have major impacts for our budget. So it’s important that a) this gets on the ballot, and b) that it passes,” Heil said. “The other key point is (that) if we don’t get it, Des Moines will take it.”

County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt described LOSST as “real important” because half of the revenue generated goes to roads and bridges in the county, and it also contributes to the Local Participation Number that has to be reported to the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and is helpful in securing state grants and Road Use Tax (RUT) allocations.

As Geilenfeldt explained, the sales tax has become even more important in light of a new state law that limits property tax increases to three percent regardless of growth.

“They’re already dropping below the 75 (percent) and so they can’t even catch up because they can’t catch up with the growth they’re getting for the property tax. We don’t have the trouble because of our Local Option (Sales) Tax. We have a pretty good margin, but if we lose our Local Option Sales Tax, it becomes dicey real quick,” he said. “Within a few years, we would have to start cutting things.”

In response to a question from Supervisor Carol Hibbs, Geilenfeldt said the tax had been in place for decades at the county level. County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson reiterated that if the voters do not renew LOSST, consumers will still be charged the extra penny, but it will go to the state instead of the county. All of the incorporated cities in the county utilize the tax, and Benson said Supervisor Steve Salasek took the petition out to the county fair — it’s also available to sign inside the courthouse.

According to a report compiled by the Iowa League of Cities, “Jurisdictions do not receive the actual amount of LOSST collected by merchants in the locality. Instead, all LOSST collected within a county is placed in a special fund that is distributed to those jurisdictions within the county that impose LOSST, based on a specified formula. Each county’s account is distributed based on population (75% weighting) and property tax levies (25% weighting).”

Benson added that the petition with the required number of signatures — 624 from eligible voters in Marshall County — will need to be submitted by Aug. 13 with the wording of the ballot question finalized by the end of August.

The board ultimately took no action. During the public forum period, Emergency Management Coordinator Kim Elder provided another update on the siren project as it nears completion, with a total of 10 new sirens being installed at locations around the county.

“We are definitely at the final stages. All of the sirens and all of the digipeaters and equipment both in the comms center and at the sheriff’s office and my office have all tested out well and have been working for the last two weeks. So thank goodness we haven’t had to use it for a real tornado warning, but it is there now,” Elder said.

She encouraged anyone who is struggling to hear the new sirens to report problems to her office. The 10 locations for new sirens are as follows: St. Anthony, State Center, Melbourne, Rhodes, Grimes Farm, Gilman, Haverhill, Laurel, Ferguson and Liscomb. The three digital repeaters or digipeaters are located in State Center, at the sheriff’s office property and in the Pickering area on the east side of the county.

Elder concluded that she was excited to wrap up the first phase of the project and hoped to add more sirens as grant funding became available. Before adjournment, Benson thanked the poll workers who staffed the Marshalltown 4th Ward city council election on Tuesday.

“I was home by 9:30,” she said. “It is a good night on election night.”

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Approved the purchase of a Land Pride RCMB5715 Rotary Cutter from the Central Iowa Farm Store in Marshalltown for $29,900.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.