Editorial: Our property tax bill went up 76%

We were stunned to receive our property tax bill for our office this week and see that it rose by 76% from last year. They demand more than $5,000 from us for our humble metal shed on Railroad Street. A friend noted he has a hard time swallowing a 12% increase on his comfortable but modest home just off the railroad tracks. For what? Crumbling curbs and streets that keep the wheel alignment man busy — factor the shop bill into your effective tax load.

It struck us after opening the envelope and nearly retching that this bill came to us courtesy of politicians who all claim to be fiscal conservatives. Republicans dominate the legislature, which has been shifting the burden for many years from income taxes to property taxes. Gov. Kim Reynolds vows to eliminate the income tax. People of limited means will pay a disproportionate share of government through property taxes, sales taxes and fees. (Water fees in Storm Lake are rising 7% a year, minimum, for the next several years, to cite the most egregious example for lack of investment over the years in a system designed to serve a multi-state livestock processing complex.)

The Buena Vista County Courthouse is controlled by so-called conservatives who could not keep track of millions of dollars of tax increment financing revenue, intended for distribution to the city, that simply slipped into the ether. They are shameless and do not understand the value of a dollar. The City of Storm Lake and county are enmeshed in a terribly expensive lawsuit, and now the county is acting as if nothing happened. Perhaps this is another reason our property tax bill jumped 76%. The county sent at least $5 million to the wrong accounts and they just blew it all. The solution is simple: Hike taxes, so they can lose some more of it.

These characters are all running unopposed this fall because they are such good conservatives. Our state legislators cannot be beat, no one dare challenge for the courthouse. The city manager gets another raise. We pay.

A friend was discussing downtown improvement plans proposed by the city council, and asked what would help business most. We have thought about that. We don’t need a three-lane Lake Avenue or building redesigns. The government should not tax us out of business, first. We cannot afford a $2,000 tax increase because highly paid government officials cannot manage the till. We cannot afford a special assessment as the result of any downtown master plan. The city should fix Geneseo Street. That would be a good start. They should quit hassling businesses and suffocating us with costs. They should fix storm sewers that don’t work downtown. They should not lose $5 million or more in tax revenue and fritter it to the wind. They should not resist an audit of those missing funds.

Our state legislators brought us the book ban that will cost the city of Alta hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a new library. They created a new welfare system for wealthy people who want to send their children to private schools away from the riffraff. We pay for it in higher property taxes. What community colleges don’t get from income taxes is shifted to property taxes. This is the stuff that our Republican state legislators dream up.

Conservative. Ha! They are big spenders who never face an accounting.

The proof is in the tax bill.

The people of Buena Vista County appear satisfied taxing our property to high heaven while public officials burn money blithely.

Note of fair warning: The county assessor is going to increase valuations again to enable government to run us out of business and you out of your home.

Republicans who claim to be the party of small government, less spending and fewer regulations are deep into your pocket. They control the legislature and the courthouse. The people on your school board and city council will tell you they are fiscal hawks, too. They must be on the government payroll or work for a health insurance company to afford these sorts of tax increases themselves. They will laugh it all off because they can. We just put up with it and pay the taxes and vote for slothful accounting and tell ourselves that we are conservative. We can’t afford that sort of fiscal discipline.