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.