Linn County may become the fourth in Iowa to create a citizens’ committee to take a closer look at how and what we eat. County supervisors will consider a proposal at Monday’s work session to create a county food systems policy council. The group of volunteer county residents “would be sort of an advisory...
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Updated 9:40 a.m. Thursday to correct details of budget vote, in bold. Linn County homeowners will pay 4.5 percent more in  county taxes next year despite a hold-the-line spending approach in the county budget approved this morning. The levy rate remains at $6.11 per $1,000 in assessed residential value, but the state’s assessment limitation,...
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The group working to develop a baseball/softball complex near Marion doesn’t expect to begin work on the project this year. Linn County supervisors today granted permission to Prospect Meadows Inc. to sublease 121 acres of county-owned property as cropland or pasture this year. Prospect Meadows representatives told supervisors at Monday’s work session work at...
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Linn County is feeling the bite of high fuel prices, and some county departments may need help to make it to the end of the fiscal year. County Conservation Director Dan Biechler told supervisors at this morning’s work session his department has already overspent its fuel budget for the fiscal year with four months...
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Opponents of the local-option sales tax extension they worked to defeat Tuesday say they’ll continue working on flood-mitigation plans for Cedar Rapids, but those on the other side say they’re done. “We gave it our best try yesterday and our group is done with the issue,” said Gary Ficken, chairman of  the pro-extension Cedar...
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A new contract approved today will mean raises of less than 2 percent a year the next two years for 540 Linn County employees. The agreement with the county’s clerical, maintenance, professional, and para-professional workers calls for 2.25-percent increases each year, but higher health insurance premiums included in the deal reduce the pay hikes,...
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City officials have some hard thinking to do after the second defeat of a proposed flood-protection sales tax, Mayor Ron Corbett said after returns were in. “This council and the previous council have been pretty firm about protecting both sides of the river and not just protecting the east side,” a disappointed Corbett said....
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Updated 4:14 p.m., in bold. Just over 14,000 Linn County residents have cast their votes in today’s referendum on the proposed 10-year extension to the one-cent local-option sales tax, the county auditor’s office reports. Election judges reported 14,040 votes cast at 3 p.m. (pdf), or 10.1 percent of registered voters. That remains slightly behind...
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An Iowa-based effort to provide emergency shelter to Haiti is ahead of schedule, according to organizers. “It’s a big part of the personality of who we are as a state,” said Aaron Putze, spokesman for the Iowa Soybean Association. “It’s based on us recognizing others are going through challenges.” Launched in December by Laurens...
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Budget cuts over the past few years have hampered efforts, but farmers are willing to better manage drainage as part of an overall flood-mitigation strategy, state Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said today. “We’ve got to look at ways to use conservation practices to hold back as much water as we can, but we’ve also...
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