Marshall County voters will decide whether or not to continue the local option sales and service tax (LOSST) during the Nov. 5 election.

During a special Friday meeting, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors approved placing LOSST on the ballot. The current tax is set to expire June 30, 2025.

Marshall County voters will decide whether to continue the tax and keep it at 1 percent. Fifty percent of the tax will be used for property tax relief and the remaining 50 percent will be used for bridge and road repair and maintenance.

“The only difference in this is we are setting this without a sunset,” said Supervisor Jarret Heil. “It doesn’t mean a board couldn’t abolish it at some point in time.”

Supervisor Carol Hibbs said the county will be charged the money no matter what, and the approval of LOSST will allow the funds to remain here.

“This is a very good thing for Marshall County,” Heil said. “We receive approximately $1.6, $1.7 million on this and that has direct impact to our property tax budget. Without this, it would make things a little more difficult in our budgetary life. The fact it coincides with the local option sales tax with the State of Iowa, it’s kind of use it or lose it. If you don’t get it, it’s going to the state.”

To avoid a lapse in the county LOSST revenue, 620 petition signatures were needed to bring the matter to a vote in the upcoming election, and 776 were received.

Supervisor Steve Salasek said he collected multiple signatures and was never denied once.

“People knew what was going on,” he said.

Heil agreed, stating the county residents are very informed, which is a good thing.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.