T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — New Marshall County Veterans Affairs Commissioner Herschel Edwards, front, introduces himself to the Board of Supervisors while County VA Director Kevin Huseboe, back, looks on during Wednesday morning’s meeting. Edwards will replace Randy Kessler and represent the Army on the commission.

After receiving another update on the ongoing Legionnaires’ disease outbreak from Marshall County Public Health Director Sydney Grewell near the beginning of Wednesday morning’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors moved on to several more routine items of business including appointing Herschel Edwards as the newest Veterans Affairs commissioner representing the Army and opting to leave an accidental undertaxing of just under $23,000 in place due to a computing error.

Marshall County VA Director Kevin Huseboe explained that Randy Kessler has chosen to resign from his commissioner position, and he then introduced Edwards, a lifelong Marshalltown resident who served 19 ½ years in the Iowa Army National Guard including one deployment to Iraq.

“That’s always been my dream after I decide to retire from the Iowa Army National Guard here in six months is to help the veteran community. I’ve done numerous fundraisers (and) motorcycle rides with Nick Salasek over the years to raise money for veteran suicide awareness,” Edwards said. “I’m currently employed with MARSHALLTOWN Company, been there for about four years, and I just love Marshalltown and love our veterans community. So I’m willing to help.”

His appointment and Kessler’s resignation were accepted by a unanimous 3-0 vote.

“Welcome aboard,” Supervisor Jarret Heil said.

The board then heard a presentation from Bobby Shomo on the EMC insurance renewal, which he said was favorable to the county with an overall premium increase of about 2.7 percent from $959,731.52 during the current fiscal year to $985,804.68 for the upcoming year. Shomo credited the department heads for working with the safety groups to minimize worker’s compensation claims and said the industry is “softening a bit” after several difficult years with seven insurers pulling out of the state completely.

He doesn’t foresee the renewals getting cheaper in the years to come, but he is optimistic about single digit percentage increases after some much larger jumps in the years past.

“We need the market to open back up, and as carriers start to get to a point of profitability again, we humans tend to get selfish, and competition will take over. We’ll eventually be able to bring a second alternative into the county.

The board approved the renewal effective Oct. 1 unanimously. Later in the meeting, County Assessor Blaze Wurr approached the supervisors to discuss an issue where 110 taxpayers in the county ages 65 and older were given double exemptions in error during Tax Year 2024 after the passage of House File 718 in 2023.

Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson noted the chaotic period when the bill was passed and said the amount of money involved is $22,797 for the 110 taxpayers in 31 different tax districts.

“Many of these folks, it appeared, also had military (exemptions). We don’t know if that also had some sort of impact, but it wasn’t, of course, everybody, so we really couldn’t pinpoint how that duplication happened,” she said.

They now have a report available in the assessor’s and auditor’s program, which serves as a good “double check” going forward. Benson then asked if the supervisors would like to bill those taxpayers for the amount in question and whether or not a letter should be sent to them in the interest of transparency, noting that their overall payments would likely go up next year because of the error and changing rates, rollbacks and exemptions.

County Treasurer Deann Tomlinson told the board she felt the same way as all of the tax statements had already been sent out, and approximately 30 of the 110 payments from the taxpayers in question have already been processed.

“I think at this point, we all agree that it would be beneficial to leave the statements in the way that they are,” she said.

On the recommendation of County Attorney Jordan Gaffney, Board Chairwoman Carol Hibbs motioned to abate the taxes as previously stated, and Heil suggested notifying the taxing authorities in each district as well as the taxpayers themselves. To put it in perspective, he noted that the county is set to collect between $60 and $70 million in taxes this year, and the error only cost them just under $23,000.

“But it still doesn’t excuse the fact that it is an amount, and it’s a process that’s being corrected by our real estate team and the authority of the law allows us to abate in particular situations like this,” he said.

Before the vote, Harold Lanning of rural Marshalltown asked the board and real estate team members to clarify what the situation meant in layman’s terms, and Heil said that because the 110 taxpayers got a double exemption, their tax bills, if divided evenly, were about $200 short of what they should’ve been each.

The motion from the board was clarifying that they weren’t going to be rebilled, but they would see their bills go up next year.

“So you got a good deal this year, but next year you’re gonna pay the piper, so to speak,” Lanning said.

The motion passed unanimously.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Authorized the Auditor/Recorder to docusign the updated business auto uninsured/underinsured coverage limits form.

• Approved the receipt of the Marshall County Employee Health and Dental Plan for the year ending June 30, 2025.

• Approved the annual contract for services with YSS of Marshall County in the amount of $11,000.

• Approved the purchase of a 2025 Snowblast 8600A Snowblower from Central Iowa Farm Store in Marshalltown for $28,900.

• Approved the Iowa Department of Transportation preconstruction agreements 2026-C-008 and 2026-C-022.

• Approved the purchase of a permanent easement from Douglas D. Honeck and Eileen E. Honeck.

• Entered a closed session to discuss pending litigation at the end of the regular agenda.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.