Property tax reform law will have minimal impact to Jasper County, officials say

Smaller communities that have not grown or have grown very little will most likely feel the sting of Iowa’s property tax reform law — House File 718 — the most, but supervisors are confident the effects of the law will be very minimal to Jasper County due to its repeated fiscally conservative budgeting practices.

During a Sept. 26 work session, supervisors disclosed they attended a training with the county auditor about House File 718, which was passed this past session. From what they gathered, officials felt comfortable that Jasper County is “sitting in a good financial position.” The law already feels like a familiar practice.

Supervisor Brandon Talsma views House File 718 as a law that forces other taxing entities “to do the same thing that Jasper County has already been doing for the past five years.” At that time — which was also when valuations started to increase more — the county’s levy rate was $4.60 per $1,000 of taxable value.

“Instead of just leaving our levy rate the same, we took in the same amount out of property tax dollars but dropped our levy rate down because valuations increased so much,” Talsma said in an Oct. 2 follow-up interview. “That is pretty much what all this bill is doing is requiring us to keep doing that.”

As valuations increase, the county drops its levy rate. At the work session, Talsma did say some work sessions will be needed in January or February before the board begins tackling its next budget. But, overall, he and fellow supervisor Denny Stevenson felt the law would not affect the county too much

Of course, House File 718 affects other taxing entities differently. The county does not have as many tax levies as the cities, Talsma said. Jasper County has general, general supplemental, rural, rural supplemental (which the county doesn’t levy) and debt service levies.

Jasper County Auditor Jenna Jennings said the county’s current levy rate is about $4.10, but the law will require the county to reach the maximum of $3.50 by 2029. She said the county is moving in the right direction to hit the maximum, but it may have to get “a little more aggressive about it until we get there.”

Talsma added the county is drastically under on its rural levy to begin with.

“So there maybe ways where we can play around with some stuff to get that general down even lower,” Talsma said. “Like are there things that are currently being funded out of the general that could be moved to the rural to get us down below there?”

Jennings noted that mailings will be sent to citizens to show how current taxes levied within their taxing district will be distributed amongst the county, city and school district. There will also be examples for residential and commercial properties on the mailing.

COULD EMS ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM ADD ANOTHER EXPENSE?

Working with relatively the same budget amount every year has helped the county remain fiscally responsible with its tax dollars.

But there is one service that could require additional funding.

Over the past year or so, the board of supervisors has supplemented the sheriff’s office with CARES Act and ARPA funds to create the advanced life support/EMS enhancement program. If the program uses up the remainder of its COVID funding, there is a possibility it would require county funding or its own levy.

Talsma said the program — which has evolved so much from its initial conception — is not set in stone, and he stressed the county does not want to have a full-fledged ambulance service. While the service may be beneficial, it is also extremely costly to the county.

“All we want to do is enhance our local services,” Talsma said. “But obviously that takes a two-way partnership between the local towns and volunteer organizations in the county. Regardless of what ALS ends up looking like, it will not be a full-fledged, manned, 24-7 ambulance service. Not at all what we want.”

Which also means the county is not interested in getting into transports, in which an ambulance service is paid to transport patients to metro hospitals for a fee.

“It will never be a revenue generator,” he said. “It will never operate in the black. It will always operate in the red. But (sheriff John Halferty) is putting some of those processes in place to where we do recoup some of our costs on the calls so that it’s not 100 percent on the back of tax dollars.”

Talsma added it could be a combination of Medicare, Medicaid, insurance billing and then supplemented with property taxes.

Still, supervisors are confident the county would not be negatively affected by funding the EMS enhancement program. Talsma said the county can do it within its current levy rates already. Again, he stressed the county does not want a program that could cost $5 million a year.

“But $1 million spread across our levy rates is minuscule,” Talsma said. “Personally, I would prefer it even going the path of, I know there are more hoops to jump through, but having a standalone levy rate for it with this separate board that kind of oversees it. Sustainability wise, that’s the better way to go.”