Law Enforcement levy vote is Tuesday

Humboldt voters are faced with an important decision on Tuesday, March 3. Voters are asked to go to the polls that day to vote on a unified law enforcement levy. The levy has been on the books and paid for by Humboldt residents for the past 30 years, but there is no record of the levy ever officially being ratified by the voters. The public vote for the unified law enforcement levy will be on Tuesday, March 3. Polls will be open at Humboldt City Hall from noon to 8 p.m. that day. This is not a new tax. The law enforcement levy has been collected in the city since the mid-1980s. Because of an administrative oversight locally, the levy was not officially on the books of the Iowa Department of Management, necessitating the public referendum on the matter. Of the $17.33 city levy expected for the coming budget year, the unified law enforcement levy makes up $1.15 per $1,000. That money goes for Humboldt’s 30 percent cost of operating and maintaining the Humboldt County Law Enforcement Center and also pays for the contracted salary with Humboldt County for the services of Dean Kruger to serve as the city’s police administrator. “The council won’t formally approve the budget until after the vote on March 3,” Humboldt City Administrator Aaron Burnett said. “The impact of not passing the levy would be the elimination of most of the capital project requests in the city’s general fund budget, as well as spending down reserve balances to make up the shortfall,” he said. Among the capital projects that can expect to be impacted are a new police cruiser for the police department and a payloader/snowblower for the street department. There will be other cost-cutting measures impacting the park, recreation, public library and street departments. “A ‘no’ vote really puts a stress on the other areas of the budget and you have to backfill somewhere,” Councilman Joel Goodell said, hinting future tax increases would be in store if the levy were to fail. “It’s something that we have been paying since 1985, and it’s not going up, but has been staying fairly steady. If it doesn’t pass people will see changes to services,” Council member John Sleiter commented. Translated, the changes will mean less service at a greater cost to the public. For more news about the city of Humboldt, subscribe to The Humboldt Independent by clicking on the link above.

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