Supervisors abate taxes for two properties in Jefferson County

Jefferson County supervisors agreed to abate taxes due on a house in Surbuban Heights purchased in June 2011 for the pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church, and waived property tax interest and penalties for an individual?s 2009 unpaid tax bill.

St. Mary Catholic Church was looking at a $2,472 property tax bill due in 2012 and 2013 because the deadline to file for tax-exempt status, Feb. 1, was missed when the home was purchased. Churches and nonprofit organizations are granted property tax exemptions and it was one year?s worth of taxes that has fallen through the cracks.

At the previous week?s supervisors meeting, a woman had presented her mother?s case to the board, asking forgiveness of penalty and interest on her mother?s property taxes if the actual back tax of $636 was paid.

Supervisors had advised the woman to file a tax abatement form request, which she did since last week.

?We?ll abate the interest and penalties for the 2009 taxes upon receipt of the $636 taxes due,? said supervisor chairman Steve Burgmeier.

Jefferson County Engineer Scott Cline reviewed ongoing road work projects with the supervisors.

?Quince Avenue is open, the pond, dam and spillway are complete,? said Cline. ?The top still has to be rocked.?

Burgmeier said the road now has a dip that needs signage to warn drivers.

?I don?t think other spillways are as pronounced as this one,? said Burgmeier.

?It was engineered and in the contractor?s plans,? said Cline. ?But it is a pretty severe dip.?

Supervisor Dick Reed asked Cline to look at it and recall the contractor to re-work it if needed.

?We have done five or six spillway projects around the county,? explained Reed. ?Where we have a bridge over a culvert, we like to eliminate the bridge, pond the water with a dam, serving the environment and wildlife. And the road is easier to maintain once the bridge is taken out.?

Burgmeier said signs should be placed on Quince Avenue advising drivers of the pronounced dip.

Cline said county road crews were patching concrete roads, grading gravel roads, mowing, and with low water levels, checking bridge abutments and piers, monitoring for scouring or other signs of wear. He said work on 227th Street and West Grimes Avenue is about completed, except for seeding and some curb adjustments the contractor has to make on West Grimes.

?If they are out mowing, tell them to mow an extra 6-feet away from the roads to give drivers better sight now that deer are becoming more active,? said Burgmeier.

Reed reported a committee is looking at an alternative air handling system for Jefferson County Courthouse.

?We?ll get rid of metal window air conditioners and have a central system with a heat pump,? he said. ?Each individual office will have its own controls. I don?t know the cost of anything yet, but we?ll be talking with some contractors to find out.

?This will need some innovation to work right and look right. The courthouse has thick walls, even on the interior.?

The alternative system will not include geothermal. A boiler would supplement the heat pump in very cold periods.

Burgmeier attended a special AIM Empowerment meeting last week for the final financial report.

?The merger requested for Iowa County to join with Jefferson and Keokuk counties has been approved now, we?ll wait for the state to give us guidance on how to proceed,? said Burgmeier.

The Regional Utility Service Systems project in Pleasant Plain and East Pleasant Plain is nearly completed, said Burgmeier. He serves as the Jefferson County representative to the RUSS board.