March 29, 2024

Property tax statements may come with additional transparency information

Supervisors want mailers to include extra document with diagrams of tax distribution

Jasper County supervisors want to send additional information in tax statements to citizens, and they enlisted the help of the county treasurer to do it.

In a work session on April 11, supervisor Brandon Talsma ran the idea by county treasurer Doug Bishop, noting it would come out of the board’s budget but would authorize the treasurer’s office to send the additional mailer with the statement. Talsma specifically wants the information to include diagrams of tax distribution.

Which is information currently available on the county’s GIS program. By looking up their property on Beacon, citizens can click on the “Tax Estimator & Forms” tab and find their estimated property taxes, a sales questionnaire, data corrections and tax distribution, the latter of which displays the information in a pie graph.

“That’s the pie chart I want to attach to the tax statement,” Talsma said while showing Bishop on the TV screens inside the supervisors chambers. “What we’re hoping, the first year is just going to be one pie chart. Going forward we’re hoping to keep two or three on here … so they can pull two or three years worth of data.”

The information would not be printed on the tax statements, but would be received as a completely separate document. Bishop agreed that a diagram that is short, sweet and to-the-point would be more beneficial than columns of dollar amounts and miscellaneous services.

Bishop was receptive to the idea and noted how impactful an image like that can be, recalling the effectiveness of the City of Newton’s diagram of a one-dollar bill frequently used during budget season. The city uses the dollar bill to show citizens just where their money is going and how much each entity takes.

The next tax statements will be sent in August.

Jasper County Supervisor Doug Cupples said he would like the extra mailers to be clear on how much he paid last year and how much he will pay this year. Bishop said while that information Cupples requested is on tax statements, the more ways the county can get out that data the better.

“You’re going to still have that certain percentage of the population that’s not going to look at anything you send them,” Bishop said. “We sent notices out with the tax statements last year that we were moving buildings and (they should) come to the new building instead of the courthouse.”

Still, there were citizens who would come to the treasurer’s office to complain the county should have let them know, even though they did.

Judging by the amount of people upset about their property assessments this past month, Bishop also predicts by July the county will get more people complaining to the tax department. Bishop asked that the county do what it can to mitigate some of the vitriol his staff will endure by educating the public.

“We’re never going to get 100 percent of it, but I’d like to try and take this next step to try and get more information disseminated and hopefully alleviate some of your guys’ issues, some of our issues,” Talsma said to Bishop. “We all deal with it when the tax statements come in the mail.”

Talsma reiterated that the information he wants to get out to people specifically revolves around their distribution of property taxes among the three main entities: the county, their respective city and their respective school district. He hesitated to throw more on Bishop’s plate, but the treasurer was more than willing to help.

“We would be glad to do it,” he said.

Christopher Braunschweig

Christopher Braunschweig

Christopher Braunschweig has a strong passion for community journalism and covers city council, school board, politics and general news in Newton, Iowa and Jasper County.