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County considers joining statewide penny sales tax
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The Osceola county The Osceola county board of supervisors will consider joining the Sibley-Ocheyedan school board in recommending that a "statewide penny" sales tax be approved in the upcoming state legislature session. The matter will be on the board's agenda at their meeting on November 20th.
The S-O school board sent a letter to the supervisors, asking them to join in the effort. The plan would repeal the School Infrastructure Local Option Tax (SILO) and replace it with a penny sales tax. The school board says that under the SILO tax, bigger school districts receive a greater share of the revenue than smaller districts. Osceola county has no large 'box' stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, etc. that generate a lot of taxes for the SILO plan. Those taxes from the large stores go to the local school districts, while smaller school districts do not share in it. According to the S-O board, the "statewide penny" tax would be more equitable, with a potential impact on the district of $300,000 per year in additional funds for infrastructure needs, and might also relieve local property taxes. If the project is approved and becomes law, all revenues statewide would be thrown in a pot, so to speak, and divided equally between all districts, according to population. The Iowa Association of School Boards claims that last year the legislature had the votes in the House and Senate to pass the measure, but the bill was not allowed out of the committee due to politics.
In other business, the board approved the appointment of Sheila Christians as an auditor clerk. She has been hired for a three-month probation period, and if that is satisfactory, will be hired fulltime.
The board also transferred $.37 from the county government assistance fund to the general basic fund. The government assistance fund is no longer in operation, but still had a 37-cent balance which had been on the books for several years.
The board also approved the canvass of the City of Sibley election of November 6th, and will canvass the elections of the rest of the cities in the county at their meeting on November 13th.
In other business, the board:
* Approved driveway recommendations from county engineer Tom Snyder for Brent Tewes in Harrison 36, Tom McDougall in Baker 20 and Todd Ackerman in Ocheyedan 2;
* Approved underground applications for the City of Sibley for a 12-inch water main and a 24-inch casing for 1200 feet east of Golf View Drive, and for Osceola Rural Water in Wilson township between sections 20-21 to go under A-22;
* Approved a "non-drainage culvert" to be constructed by
Sibley Dairy between sections 26-35 of West Holman Township. Snyder also informed the board that the bids for construction and resurfacing of Highway 9 between the Dickinson county line and L-58 south of Ocheyedan will be let on November 20th. The rest of the project, from L-58 to the new Highway 60 bypass, will be let sometime in 2009.
Finally, the board agreed to buy seven-tenths of an acre of land from Tom and Roxanne Morfitt for bridge construction purposes. A contract was agreed on for the purchase price of $3,000 per acre. The county will construct a driveway for the Morfitts as part of the payment price, leaving a balance of $1,563.80 for the land.
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