Bill passed by the state legislature means Winneshiek County property taxes will be reduced

A bill passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor this week will allow Winneshiek County to reduce its property tax rate for next year by seven cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Senate File 2071 changed the way the state pays counties for Mental Health Property Tax Relief.  For the last couple of years the state has paid only 90 percent of the funds it promised for this program.  But the legislation passed this week funded the program at 100 percent.

Winneshiek County had published its budget anticipating that the state would only fund Mental Health Property Tax Relief at 90 percent again this year. 

Now that Winneshiek County officials have had some time to study the new legislation, they have calculated the legislation will allow the county to lower its levy rate by about 6 cents from what was published, giving Winneshiek County taxpayers a total reduction from last year's tax rate of about 7 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation.