Story County Tax Rates

If you are like me, and got your property tax sheet from the county, you will notice that your property tax bill took a jump, namely on a percentage basis for the City of Roland. I was kinda surprised to see that as well, so I did some digging. The reason for my surprise, was that I know the city council has pretty much held the line on general city expenditures. The past two years, the budget has not changed much for the operations of Roland.

However, after the digging, the jump is due to payments for the bond the city got for the installation of the new streets/extension of Bryan and Arthur. The city chose to add those for a couple of reasons. That would be for help in development of Britson Park, having more development land in the industrial park, and to provide an alternative outlet for Logan Street, which was previously a dead end, but had about 1/9 of the city's population.

Anyway, I didn't think that payment would hit in this year's taxes but it did. And with that, we still have one more year of payment for our well project of 10 years ago, so next year, we will have a reduction in taxes for not having to make that payment (probably around $40k, but I don't guarantee that number)

Property taxes in Iowa are kinda squirly, as they have a rollback and all that, so you currently pay taxes on only about 1/2 the value of your property. Currently state law limits city councils to charging only $8.10 per thousand of assessed valuation. But you can also charge extra levies for insurance, orchestras (not us!), emergency services, and debt service. We charge the $8.10, plus .86 for insurances, and now $1.42 for debt service. Last year our debt service was 33 cents--which was for the wells, which should go away next year.

So with that, this year, the City of Roland will take 31% of your total property taxes. The school takes 48%, plus adds a 10% income tax surcharge to you as well. The rest goes to the county, and DMACC, and some other agencies.

Back to cities themselves, here is how Roland stacks up with other towns in the county. Roland takes $10.38 for every thousand of assessed valuation after the rollback which is 48%. So if you have a house assessed at $100,000, it is taxed on $48,000, which means you pay $10.38 for 48 thousand=tax to the city only, is $498.

Now remember, each city has money borrowed for different things, and has different levels of services provided--for example, we have a pool, and Gilbert doesn't. That is an expenditure we have that Gilbert doesn't. Some towns have police forces that cost more than contracting with county sheriff, like we do. Businesses pay higher taxes than an equal valued house, so more businesses mean more incoming tax revenue, and so on. So this isn't totally apples to apples, but it shows what all the towns have chosen to do.

And not to pick on Zearing, but somebody with a $100,000 house in Zearing would pay $21 a year less in city only property taxes than someone in Roland. Does a Roland homeowner get $21 a year more value from their city government than someone from Zearing? I guess that is for them to decide.

Roland $10.38
Ames $10.84
Cambridge $8.10
Collins $10.97
Colo $12.92
Gilbert $10.90
Huxley $10.51
Maxwell $8.97
Kelley $8.10
Nevada $15.00
Slater $14.35
Story City $8.50
Zearing $9.95

Mayor Plans

Since all the politicians do it, I figured I would too. I just announced on Facebook and Twitter, and here as well, that I will not be seeking re-election as Mayor.

I mostly enjoy being Mayor, but it comes down to a time issue. I am working 10-15 hours more a week in my real job, than I was when elected. I also see that continuing at least another 6 months to a year. To that, I feel my attention to mayor stuff has slipped a little, as when I "lose" 10 hours, something has to fall off the plate; sleep, family time, internet time--I often chose mayor time.

The next issue is my son is currently a freshman. I expect him to be playing various JV sports over the next couple years, and those events are typically on Monday nights, when our council meetings are. I would much prefer going to his games than a council meeting.

There is still one more week of filing for mayor or city council. If you are interested, there is a link on the city website to getting the paperwork you need to run. You only need 10 signatures!

Maple Water Main Project

If you have attempted to drive through Roland during normal business hours over the past week, you will have noticed that Maple/E18 has been closed in west Roland, with a detour down Logan/Bryan/Industrial. What is going on is the addition of a new water main. This is the completion of a project started a couple years ago. We have kinda been on a pay-as-you-go for getting that done. Going way back, it got done to Green, then to Bear Creek and Logan, and now all the way out to the Cenex station.

So we had set aside enough money in capital reserves to finish that project. Being able to close the street saved us money and time by getting it done faster. It is nice to have the alternate route through town now open, instead of having to route everyone up gravel and over R77/E15, and 590th.

Last I heard, Wednesday the 14th is the last day for closure.

Housing Grants

Another thing discussed in our council meeting was that we still have the possibility of 1 or 2 houses receiving funding for a grant for fixing up homes. You can call City Hall for the details, but it is pretty much if you have an average to below average income, are a home owner, plan to live in your house for another couple years, and your home has a need for some kind of structural or appearance repairs, you may be eligible for a grant towards a fixup.

The city helps administer the grant, and it is good for the city, as it helps fix up homes in the city. It can be things like getting new windows, or fixing a roof or a porch. Again call City Hall if you or you know someone who might benefit.

September 12 Council meeting

A bigger crowd and a longer meeting than most recent meetings. But we got a lot discussed and accomplished.

Some of the highlights as I recall them.....CM Larry Ford and I will are heading up the search for a new City Clerk. We will be figuring out how to word the ad, and where to post it. The nice thing is, we have Jodi lined up until the end of the year whether she becomes our city clerk or not. We had a minor discussion of what to look for, with some of the key points being prior city government experience, grant writing experience, and an interest to live in Roland.

We discussed the results of our meeting regarding a new sewer main along the back side of Samson Street. Since that has run into some roadblocks, we are going to check with our city engineer on other recommendations to get help us reduce the flow and potential for backups.

The council approved road projects of around $77000. The key one is repaving the street on the east side of the school on up to Maple. That is a good one, it has a bunch of holes, and it needs a fix.

We approved the location for a new LED message sign on the lot north of Casey's. RADC is working on that. It will be a color board, and will be for community messages and such. For now, it appears that the library will be the place for adding the messages. It will likely have messages for sale/rent be they for commercial organizations or simply "Happy Birthday Roger!" More details to come on that, but they hope to have it installed within a month. So that will be a neat thing for our Main Street. They are still looking for donations to finish the project. I know Innovative Lighting has and will be assisting with the project.

School election today

Don't forget, the school board election is today. Roland residents can vote at the Community Center from Noon to 8. Four candidates for 3 slots. That is somewhat unusual that a school board has a contested race. I don't think it is contentious, it was just 4 people who were interested in helping out. Being on the school board is a volunteer position, so thanks to those folks who stepped up to go on the ballot.

Samson Street meeting

Last Wednesday I attended a meeting at the community center along with our city engineer and our department heads. We invited residents along the west side of Samson Street to have a discussion about the possibility of running a new sewer trunk line through their back yards.

We were working towards getting a hazard mitigation grant, and the council thought that would be an effective use of money, namely a newer, larger sewer trunk line, that would help prevent sewer backups in various parts of the city.

We wanted to gauge the mood of those residents, who would have to grant an easement to the city for the project, and also to see if they had any ideas. It was a good meeting, and we had a very informational back and forth discussion.

One thing we did learn, is that in some of their backyards is the former city dump. That raised all sorts of red flags, because with getting money for the grant, we would have to do environmental studies. And if we starting digging through a dump, that is not going to go well in regards to environmental impact.

So, in our council meeting last night, we have pretty much nixed that idea. So if we want to pursue a new main sewer trunk, we have a couple other options. One is to replace the existing trunk. And that means going right down the middle of Samson. That street would be out of commission for a couple months, and would likely cost near 1 Million dollars, after every thing is done. I don't like that.

Another is to go in the "parking" along the west side of Samson, with a forced sewer main. That would involve putting a generator near the pool, and forcing the sewage down a new pipe. Currently the sewage is all gravity flow. We can't go through those front yards and get the right elevations for gravity. So it has to be physically forced through with pumps. Not sure on the cost on that, but that is likely a half million dollar project.

Or we may decide to just really work on cleaning up inflow to the sewer system around town. Trying to find leaks, and relining sewer pipes.

So in a hold right now. In any case, an expensive proposition.