Tama County Administration Building, 104 W State St., Toledo, Iowa. SUN COURIER FILE PHOTO

TOLEDO – The Tama County Board of Supervisors held two public hearings recently to hear from citizens about proposed property tax levies.

The first hearing was held at the Toledo Reinig Center on the evening of March 25, while the second took place on Monday, March 31, before the regular board meeting. Both hearings were filled with comments that at times turned acrimonious and contemptuous. The first hearing at the Reinig Center started with a presentation by Supervisor David Turner, who attempted to explain the situation.

“Right up front, the Tama County Supervisors are not raising the levies. The levies are what they were (the) last go around,” Turner said. “So, our general basic is 3.5, that’s the maximum it could be. The general supplemental is 3.64617, and then the rural basic is 3.74618. Those things that are outside of the board of supervisors’ control are your assessed value of your property and then the levies that were added. So, EMS, that was voted by the voters and approved in November, seventy-five cents per one thousand of assessed values. Your school board depends on where you live and what the school board has raised for your current location. And then your city taxes, if you’re living in the city, your cities have their taxes. So we can’t control that.”

On Monday morning, a heated exchange unfolded between a resident who repeated the wording in letters the state now requires all taxing entities to mail out, and Supervisor Heather Knebel reiterated that the county was not raising its levy rates even if assessed values of properties are increasing based on a formula the state provides to county assessors.

“We did not raise taxes from our side because we understand. We’re taxpayers too, and our assessment values are going up too. I’m in the same boat as you, so I think we need to go to the state and figure out how can we fix this, right? I’m like you. I just built a new house two years ago and it keeps going up,” Knebel said.

The man said his assessment had jumped 75 percent and expected that his value would double in four years.

“Something’s gotta be done, or does somebody wanna buy my house for $400,000?” he asked.

Supervisor Curt Hilmer said the state had put them in a tough position, and Turner encouraged the man to speak with State Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour). He also questioned why the county assessor wasn’t in attendance at the meeting, and Chairman Mark Doland noted that the supervisors themselves had not raised any taxes beyond what the citizens of Tama County voted for with the EMS levy. He also touted the current board’s efforts to cut expenses since they took control at the beginning of 2025.

“This is the best budget we’ve probably had in many years, and so we were pretty proud of it. To get lambasted is kind of a kick in the groin,” Doland said.

One commenter asked for an audit over allegations that $14 million had been misspent or misappropriated in recent years, while another asked for the state to be brought in and felt previous outside auditors had “failed” the county. Knebel later promised to continue making cuts in hopes of increasing the county’s long-term financial prospects.

Karen Murty praised the new board for working to restore transparency and accountability while defending the decision to expand the board to five members. Turner also expressed his frustration with the ongoing rumors that the Public Health department is being shut down and suggestions that the board isn’t being sufficiently transparent in its operations. Former Supervisor Bill Faircloth, who has become a fixture at recent meetings, engaged in another argument with the current board and contended that the former supervisors budgeted according to the revenue projections they had received, which was partly based on state and federal grant money, before walking out of the meeting.

After hearing and responding to citizens at both public hearings, the supervisors approved the levies as presented.

Business as usual

During the Monday, March 31 regular meeting, Tama County Engineer Ben Daleske reported that they’ve been hauling rock on 245th Street west of Clutier and 250th and 260th west of Highway 63; this week they will move on to hauling to 275th West of Highway 63 and on Q & R Avenue West of Clutier. The replacement of the wooden box culvert at 200th St. East of K Ave has been finished, and they will move on to the culvert at N Avenue just North of E29. An update on the Highway Bridge Program projects for this summer were: Abbott Ave. County Line Culvert Replacements Will Start April 7, Marshall County will be doing inspection; E43 Bridge Replacement is estimated to start at the beginning of August; S Avenue Bridge Replacement is estimated to start at the end of July.

The county’s five year program is being sent off to be approved by the DOT and the following changes have been made this year: E44 Box Culvert Project was moved to FY26, L Ave Grading & Paving were each moved back a year FY27 (Grading) & FY28 (Paving), removed G Avenue Culvert as it didn’t qualify for HBP funds, added two bridges to the program, Columbia 19 – G Ave Bridge just North of 370th St. (Currently 15 Ton), and Perry 34 – PP Ave Bridge just south of 210th St. (Currently 25/40/40 Ton).

The Wieting Theater summer theater camp was approved to use the courthouse lawn. Turner and Knebel were approved to head up a committee to select, interview, and hire an IT professional.

A public hearing was set for April 21 at 9:30 a.m. to repeal Tama County Ordinance VI.5(6.5) regarding wind energy conversion assessments. A liquor license for Windy Goat Acres was approved.

The supervisors approved the adjusted budgets for the Board of Health and Maintenance, and Doland explained.

“While we were doing our budgets, we had asked public health to cut, as well as maintenance. Then we added back in the raises for all departments, they had chosen not to and now have asked if we would reapply the two percent raises. We don’t have to republish according to what’s published to maintain those numbers. There’s going to be some additional funds coming back for one person who has relocated from economic development over to the assessor’s office, and so there’ll be some savings there,” he said. “So, whatever was published will be covered. We wouldn’t have to re-raise that, it would be reallocating the budgets. They have been refigured and resubmitted, so there wouldn’t be any increase as to what was already published.”

The supervisors approved a hiring freeze exemption for three seasonal mowers for Secondary Roads.

Claims totaling $398,494.67 were approved.