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Webster County approves $39M budget

Property tax holds steady

Webster County’s property tax rate is down about 6 cents per $1,000 in taxable valuation for the coming fiscal year, after the Board of Supervisors approved the 2019-2020 budget at its meeting Tuesday.

The total budget calls for spending about $39.1 million, a decrease from the current year.

As the tax rate decreases slightly, the county will actually bring in about $900,000 more in tax revenue, as property valuations continue to go up.

The tax rate will be $5.84 in urban areas, and $9.50 in rural areas, per $1,000 taxable valuation for the coming year.

That’s compared to $5.90 urban and $9.56 rural in the current year.

Total expenses for the year are projected as $39,058,163.

That’s down from about $41.5 million in the current year, a decrease of around $2.5 million or 5.9 percent.

The line items showing the largest decrease are the capital projects fund, mental health, and administration.

Total income will be $38,273,731. The current year’s income is about $37.3 million, making next year an increase of $998,000, or 2.7 percent.

Of that income, the estimated revenues coming from property taxes will be $13.95 million in the coming year, up from an estimated $13.04 million in the current year. That’s an increase of $914,778 or 7 percent.

Roads and transportation are the biggest single spending category at $9,232,300.

Other top spending categories include:

• Public safety and legal services — $5,854,528;

• Physical health and social services — $4,604,476;

• Capital projects — $3,385,000.

During budget hearings in January the supervisors went through each department’s budget, reviewing items line by line.

The supervisors earlier this year approved salary raises of about 2.7 percent for most elected officials. The county attorney and sheriff will be given larger raises in the coming year to keep up with salaries in similarly-sized counties throughout Iowa.

The fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.

Find more details on the budget at the Iowa Department of Management’s website, at http://is.gd/WebsCo2020.

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