Daily Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, IA

10-18-06

Supervisor candidates talk taxes

TIM ROHWER, Staff Writer

The West Pottawattamie Agricultural Extension District serves thousands of young people through local 4-H school programs, teen parenting classes, parent education programs and much more.

Its tax revenue from the county is just $112,500, even though the budget needed is more than $320,000, an official told the Council Bluffs Building Trades Association Tuesday night.

The tax is currently less than 5 cents per $1,000 of taxable valuation, said Brad Richardson, county director of Iowa State University Extension Office.

On the ballot at the Nov. 7 election will be a request to raise the levy over a period of years to 13.5 cents per $1,000 valuation.

That was just one of the political issues discussed at the association's monthly meeting Tuesday evening at Pizza King in Council Bluffs.

Candidates for the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors also spoke about their qualifications.

"I want to get involved. I think there needs to be changes," Democratic candidate Deborah West said,

She believes in controlled growth and using available structures for any future building needs.

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Fellow Democrat Dean Fischer said he would focus on bringing more industries to the smaller communities, plus more recreational options.

"Recreation brings people and people bring industry," he said.

Republican Roger Williams said, "Jobs happen when certain ingredients are present."

One of those ingredients is an educated workforce, he said.

Williams, a retired educator, will continue to push for a new school program called Career Vision Academy. It's designed to prepare young people for the good-paying jobs that communities believe will be available in the future.

Republican incumbent Lynn Leaders talked briefly about his three-and-a-half years on the board.

"I think I've done a good job," he said.

Republican incumbent Loren Knauss, the current board chairman, said he has helped bring common sense to the board.

"We've made some tough decisions and maybe they were not all popular, but we've moved forward," he said.

Knauss urged the audience to vote for those whom they trust, and hopefully, he said, he is one of them.

Democratic candidate Rex Grote was not at Tuesday's event.