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Editorial

Hearing was missed opportunity to weigh in on FD property taxes

It seems like a segment of the Fort Dodge population has surrendered its right to complain about any potential increase in the city property tax rate that may be coming. As it stands right now, the city’s property tax rate for the 2026-2027 fiscal year is set to go up by 14 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. That would boost the tax rate from $20.75 per $1,000 of taxable value to $20.89 per $1,000 of taxable value. And that higher rate would be levied against any increased value that a piece of property might have. Property owners throughout the city had a golden opportunity on ...

It’s time for spring — and farming

It’s getting to be that time of the year. Although it is early in the season, you just may have seen someone working in the fields already. You may have seen a tractor rolling down a rural road. If you are a farmer, perhaps you have been looking over the fields and getting the machinery ready. All that activity means one thing — the time to start planting is drawing near. Yes, there may be a late season snow storm, but spring is coming and with it comes the annual planting. Spring is the time when the pace quickens on the state’s roughly 90,000 farms. According to the ...

Help celebrate National Ag Day

As another growing season approaches, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is encouraging Iowans to join in the recognition of Tuesday as National Ag Day. One goal of National Ag Day is to recognize the contribution agriculture makes in the lives of all of us. The American Council on Agriculture sponsors and encourages programs during National Ag Week that help Americans: • Understand how food and fiber products are produced. • Appreciate the role ag plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products. • Value the essential role of agriculture in ...

Public notices must remain in newspapers

There are some in the Iowa Legislature who periodically toy with the possibility of eliminating the requirement that local governments print public notices in newspapers. This is the wrong move today, tomorrow and for the future. Government transparency is more important than ever. In truth it is critical. While The Messenger and other Iowa newspapers have an economic interest in seeing that the public notice publishing requirement remains, the issue goes far beyond a few dollars. Maintaining the legal requirement to publish government actions and meetings in local newspapers is ...

Lawmakers shouldn’t change funding for job training program

Tucked inside an economic development bill that probably contains many good things is a provision that would severely inhibit and maybe even end an effective job training program. The measure would make a change in the way an employee training program commonly called 260E is paid for. That number and letter combination refers to the exact section in Iowa law where the program is described and authorized. The 260E program enables community colleges to provide training for companies that are adding 50 or more employees. Locally, Nestle Purina PetCare, Cargill and CJ Bio America ...

Corrections workers are unsung heroes

Anyone who took the time to read the entire Iowa criminal code would come across an offense entitled assault by an inmate with bodily fluids or secretions. Yes, that offense does exist in state law. And yes, the offense is as gross as it sounds. But that kind of an assault is one of the things county jailers and state corrections officers must contend with. Everyone is well aware that law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel risk their lives every day to protect us. But there is another group of people that risk their lives every day to protect the ...