Property Taxes Will Be Priority Issue For County Supervisors In 2025

Property taxes, rural water, roads and home healthcare will be among the priority issues in 2025 for the Mills County Board of Supervisors.

While discussing their agenda for the upcoming year with The Opinion-Tribune Thursday morning,  Lonnie Mayberry, Richard Crouch and Jack Sayers agreed keeping property taxes in check will be a matter of paramount importance as they collectively make decisions about the county’s future over the next 12 months.

“No one wants to pay taxes,” Mayberry said. “The lower we can keep them, the better off everybody is. I think these guys will agree with me, it’s always a moving target. As soon as you get things figured out, the state usually changes things on us so we have to adapt and overcome.

“They’re making it harder and harder on us every year.”

The supervisors said unfunded mandates passed down from the state to local governing agencies and changes to state policies and funding formulas have been ongoing in recent years, creating financial challenges for county officials across the state.

Mayberry and Crouch both sit on a governance board that will meet with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds later this month to discuss matters of importance to county officials

“We each have a subject to complain about or raise to her attention,” Crouch said. “We don’t care if you (state) do something, but do it on your own. Don’t cost the taxpayers down here (county level).”

Crouch cited the military service tax exemption Iowa veterans receive on their property taxes as an example of the state passing an expense on to local counties.

“Last year, they (state) quit paying half of the veterans’ taxes,” Crouch noted. “Nobody really knew that happened. Guess who picked up the other half?

“All of the taxpayers don’t realize some of the things that we have to put up with.”

Crouch said the state is sitting on federal money that should be getting distributed to counties.

Mayberry also voiced his frustration with state policies and unfunded mandates.

“The state’s doing exactly what they want to do to us - they’re slowly strangling us,” he said.

Sayers, the newcomer who was elected to the board in the November general election, said he campaigned on limiting the county’s annual budget increases to around 2 percent and he intends to keep that goal in mind over the next few months as the supervisors put together their budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“The county is usually the third highest on a property tax bill – the schools first, city second,” Sayers said. “We want to make sure we can do what we can to keep our property tax bill for Mills County residents low.”

Water, Home Healthcare

All three supervisors stressed the need for the county to address its rural water needs.

“The one thing I would really like to see is if we can get some advancement in rural water,” Crouch said.

Sayers said rural water was discussed during recent conversations he’s had with Iowa’s elected officials in Washington. Both Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Randy Feenstra are concerned about Mills County’s lack of a rural water system, he said.Another issue the county board continues to be confronted with is funding for the Mills County Public Health Office. Difficult decisions could be on the horizon as the office struggles to stay afloat with a combination of funding it receives from county taxpayers and grant reimbursement dollars from outside agencies for various services and programs it provides.

“When we’re talking about public health, we need to make sure that it’s money that’s well spent because it’s taxpayer dollars,” Sayers said. “We need to make sure the services that most people think of when they think of public health, those are the services that are protected and aren’t cut. That’s why I want to reiterate protecting home healthcare. I really want to make sure Mills County Public Health keeps its home healthcare.”

Crouch said he, too, is an advocate for MCPH’s home healthcare services.

“We need to take care of those that maybe need a bath, some laundry done, something like that, so they can stay in their home and not have to go to a rest home” he said.

Roads, Public Safety

Secondary roads will continue to be an ongoing issue for the county board and Mills County Engineer’s office.

“Fixing, paving and maintaining,” Mayberry said. “The costs go up exponentially.”

Crouch mentioned road-related challenges members of the agriculture community face.

“Width (of roads) are an issue for farmers,” he said. “The width and speed of equipment keeps increasing.”

Providing greater accessibility to high-speed internet, economic development and public safety are other important issues the supervisors discussed.

“We want to make sure that public safety is taken care of in Mills County,” Sayers said. “We’re growing. We have all those houses coming to Malvern, we have the housing coming in on the hill. Hopefully, we’ll have economic development over the next four years and we need to make sure that we’re up with the times and our sheriff’s office not only has the resources, but the manpower that is necessary to protect the residents of the county.”

Industry Needed In County

The supervisors understand the importance of the services and programs funded by tax dollars, but providing those offerings while at the same time trying to reduce expenditures and limiting the burden on taxpayers is a difficult balancing act. Budgets can only be cut so far before services and programs are impacted.

“We keep beating up each department to cut, scrape and scrounge – not replace this or that,” Mayberry said. “It’s not a good way to stay alive.”

The supervisors agree the lack of industry in Mills County puts a substantial financial burden on farmers, property owners and small business owners.

“We need some industry here,” Mayberry said. “We beat the tar out of our farmers and residential because we have nothing else. Housing is our only market here, that’s the only industry we have. We need something (else).”