The time is nearing for the major municipal taxing entities in Northwest Iowa to determine whether property taxes paid by home and business owners will increase.
Many of those decisions will be finalized by mid-April in area cities, counties and school districts, as the budgets for the 2025-26 fiscal year will be voted on by elected officials.
Many officeholders routinely say they want to limit property taxation, but in Woodbury County that may prove elusive. On Monday, the Sioux City Council and Sioux City School Board members held public hearings to discuss the currently proposed property tax levies.
Those levy amounts are the key statistic that gets multiplied by a person’s property valuation to determine property taxes, which form a huge part of many local budgets. The Sioux City School Board proposed levy could remain essentially the same, as the current amount is $12.378 per $1,000 of assessed value, compared to $12.381 for next year.
Several people spoke out against the estimated large spike in the Sioux City Council meeting Monday. The current city levy is $16.54 per 1,000 valuation, compared to $17.66 proposed for next year.
Also concerning local property taxes, the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the levy on Tuesday, April 1.
For people living in county towns, the current levy of $7.11 per $1,000 of value could rise considerably to $7.39. For rural landowners, the current property tax levy could rise from $9.52 to $9.88.
If the county supervisors held the levies the same as this year, officials said they would face a $4 million budget shortfall. In their meeting Tuesday afternoon, the supervisors will discuss a hiring freeze to balance the budget.
*Additionally, a national sports champion will be determined in Sioux City on Tuesday evening, and it might be a repeat for a local team.
Dordt University, of Sioux Center, will seek to win a second consecutive NAIA women's basketball title. Dordt will play Indiana Wesleyan in the championship at the Tyson Events Center at 7 p.m.
Both teams have 33-2 records.
It was nearly an all Siouxland championship, as Indiana Wesleyan outlasted the Briar Cliff Charger women by one point, 70-69, on Monday.
*In other news, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden has signed three bills into law that chip away at some of the last portions of gun free zones in the state.
“One of my favorite things about South Dakota is how free we are – especially when it comes to the freedom to keep and bear arms,” said Gov. Larry Rhoden in a press release. “We have taken greater actions to defend our Second Amendment rights than any other state.”
The first of the bills signed Monday allows concealed-carry permit holders to have pistols in vehicles when in school parking lots.
The second law allows college students and staff with enhanced-concealed-carry permits to have a firearm on campuses.
The third measure allows city and county employees to carry a concealed pistol at work. Lawmakers in the Republican supermajority state Legislature added a last-minute amendment to that bill that repealed the prohibition of concealed pistols in bars.
In 2019, state lawmakers removed any permit requirements to carry a concealed pistol.
*In other legislative news, Iowa students wouldn’t be allowed to use their cellphones during instructional time at school, according to a bill passed by the Senate chamber on Monday.
Schools can put stricter bans in place if they want.
Parents can petition for their kids to keep access to their phones due to physical or mental health reasons. And, kids with disabilities could also still use their devices if it's a required part of their education program.
Republican Senator Lynn Evans, of Aurelia, said many school districts already have their own policies in place, but the bill nudges those that don’t.
“We’re encouraging school boards to take up a matter that we all know that could be a problem, but it doesn’t take away local control,” Evans said.
The bill now heads back to the House chamber, where it passed last week with some differences. An earlier version would have required students in sixth through eighth grade to learn about the effects of social media. The current version removes the section.
*Additionally, while some potential or actual federal cuts pinpointed by the Department of Government Efficiency are causing confusion for some, South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden said he’s seen open communication from the federal government.
South Dakota has low state taxes, and nearly half of the funding in the state’s budget comes from federal dollars and federal matches. Some of the state’s financial experts fear DOGE cuts could spell bad news for future budgets.
So far, South Dakota has seen federal jobs cut and real estate leases terminated, although some cuts were later halted in the courts. The state’s largest economic sector, the ag industry, has also experienced grant freezes.
Democrat Representative Erick Muckey is on the committee that sets South Dakota’s budget. He said the future is still uncertain for federal spending cuts, and while Muckey is concerned, he urges South Dakotans to have caution.
“It’s going to be really dependent on how decisions come down in the next few months. If we see potential cuts, specifically for Medicaid especially, that’s going to put a massive strain on our budget that we’re not prepared for right now," Muckey said.
Some Republicans aren’t as worried, seeing the cuts as necessary and a way to limit the federal bureaucracy.
Rhoden continues to speak in support of Trump’s efforts to reduce government.
“I was in DC a couple of weeks ago and we met with a number of cabinet secretaries and directors and undersecretaries. And, it was kind of like somebody turned a light on and opened a window. The line of communication we had available to us and the meetings we had direct conversations was just extremely encouraging," Rhoden said.
