In an attempt to get the county?s financial troubles under control, the Grundy County Commission set the 2004 tax levy at the maximum following a public hearing held this morning at the courthouse.
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In an attempt to get the county?s financial troubles under control, the Grundy County Commission set the 2004 tax levy at the maximum following a public hearing held this morning at the courthouse.
The levy was set at .2071 on the $100 assessed valuation, which is a seven-cent increase over the 2003 levy of .1371. That rate is the maximum possible without collecting more than is allowed by state statute. If 100 percent of the taxes owed are paid, the county would receive $192,124.85 for general revenue. In the 2004 budget, the commission had projected income from the levy to total around $140,467.
Presiding Commissioner Kenny Roberts said the commissioners felt they had no choice but to set the levy at the maximum, something they had considered doing in the past two years, but had not done. Roberts said the levy was not set at the maximum last year because it was hoped the one-half cent sales tax for law enforcement would be on the ballot and approved by voters, taking some of the pressure off the General Revenue Fund to pay for operations of the county sheriff?s department and jail. Although there are still hopes of passing a sales tax for law enforcement, Roberts and associate commissioners Bud Cox and Gene Wyant said they feel they have to take action on the levy at this point.
It was noted that the county?s total assessed valuation has decreased by $3,562,876 over last year and now stands at $92,769,119. While real estate assessment was up about $200,000 across the county, personal property assessments were down over $5 million. Roberts said that he was told by the county assessor?s office the reason for the reduction involves changes in the deductions for high-mileage vehicles and the changes in the NADA book values.
Although the commissioners are expecting to receive about $50,000 more than had been budgeted, they aren?t looking at it as a financial windfall of any sort.
?We haven?t given raises for two years and we can?t keep doing that,? Roberts said. ?If we decide we can give raises this year, that would pretty much take care of the extra money. And none of our expenses are costing less, so it?s not going to be a big windfall.?
All three commissioners noted that in the past few years, auditors have ?raked us over the coals? for not setting the levy at its maximum when the county was in poor financial condition. The commission attempted to set the levy at a rate that would collect the most funds possible without going over the allowed amount. The tax rate ceiling is .3723. The commission is allowed to set the levy in a way that will allow them to recoup around $49,000 that would have been collected in the past had the levy been set at the maximum. Considering that, the commissioners could have set the levy at .2176, however, if they had, the county would have collected too much money and would have to adjust the next levy to reflect that over-collection. By setting the levy at .2071, the county will collect as much as possible, without going over.
Only one person from the public, Phil Schlarb, attended the hearing this morning. Figures presented today varied from the proposed levy published due to changes in the final assessed valuation figures.
In other business today, the commission accepted the resignation of Road and Bridge Supervisor Darrell Plumb, effective Sept. 30, and voted to name Kenny Orndorff as supervisor, effective immediately. The commission will advertise to fill a vacancy on the road and bridge crew and anyone interested may contact the county clerk?s office.