Tax Caps Woodbury County
In advance of the 2024 Iowa Legislative session, Siouxland lawmakers met with local leaders at the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors' meeting room Friday afternoon.
The biggest issue up for discussion was the effect of House File 718 signed into law this year. The measure is expected save Iowans 100 million-dollars in property taxes by capping levy rates for cities and counties. However, Woodbury County officials are worried about the financial effects of the bill.
County finance and budget director Dennis Butler said caps on levy rates could cause financial problems for Woodbury County.
“Because we would have no way to generate any more money, except the seven hundred and four thousand based on HF 718. So there are two things there that are pretty critical for us, the funding the general basic fund and the additional expenses incurred by big business coming.”
Woodbury Count Supervisor’s Chair Mathew Ung the caps on spending may create problems for a county that has spent years lowering tax rates.
“By lowering the rates as much as we have over the years, in some ways we feel proud of that and in some ways, we probably also feel we did too well.”
Supervisor Mark Nelson noted that the tax bill is eroding local control, which he thought was a cornerstone of conservative Republican ideals.
“It doesn’t get much smaller and local than this. And yet, what we’ve done has taken away local control and medium size government, which is at the state level, bigger.
Lawmakers and local leaders on Friday also discussed emergency management, a benefits package for volunteer rural firefighters, and concerns over the effects of carbon capture pipelines in Northwest Iowa.
The Iowa Legislature will be back in session on January 8, 2024.
