Voters from the College Community School District will vote April 3, 2012, on a public measure seeking approval to issue General Obligation Bonds in an amount not to exceed $15,000,000. Absentee ballots for this special election will be available beginning Thursday, February 23, in the Linn County Election Services Office at Linn County West,...
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Linn County supervisors voted today to end a longevity bonus to Sheriff Brian Gardner’s second in command. Prompted by County Auditor Joel Miller, the supervisors voted unanimously to re-affirm a 1998 policy that ended longevity pay for elected officials and their appointed deputies. Sheriff’s Col. John Stuelke, appointed chief deputy by Gardner, had continued...
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State lawmakers have approved restoring $7.2 million in state aid to counties for mental health services, a move that will reduce Linn County’s planned property tax levy by a nickel. An amendment approved by both the House and Senate would direct the money from the Economic Emergency Fund to restore the property tax relief...
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CEDAR RAPIDS – Recycling glass in Cedar Rapids and the rest of Linn County just got a little easier, officials say. According to a news release Tuesday, residents no longer have to sort clear and colored glass into different buckets. Instead, locals can start setting mixed glass out for collection effective immediately. The change...
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CEDAR RAPIDS- Drivers who invest in fuel-saving “green” vehicles will find ownership actually comes with a parking bonus in Cedar Rapids.  Two Linn County office buildings and two new engineering buildings at Rockwell Collins both offer close-in, reserved parking spots for alternative fuel or gas-electric hybrid vehicles.   But the reason behind the parking...
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A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012: NOBEL RECOGNITION: Iowa State University Professor Dan Shechtman of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology was honored by lawmakers with House Resolution 116 and Senate Resolution 109 for his receipt of the 2011...
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The Linn County Assessor’s Office announces that the Commercial and Industrial property reappraisal, approved by the Conference Board in December, 2008, has concluded and the Assessment Notices were mailed February 17, 2012. Only commercial and industrial properties within Linn County, outside of the Cedar Rapids City limits are affected. Commercial and industrial property owners...
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Linn County commercial and industrial property has been re-appraised for the first time in nearly 30 years, boosting some property tax assessments. Overall, the value of commercial and industrial property in the county increased 17.23 percent, from $718,534,433 to $842,358,000, Chief Deputy Assessor Dave Ellis said. Ellis said 64 percent of the increase was...
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A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Monday, Feb. 20, 2012: $376 MILLION CLIFF: Iowa could face a $376 million loss in revenue if the Bush era tax cuts are allowed to expire, Sens. Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, and Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, warned. Iowa is one of a handful of...
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Linn County will likely see some financial relief from the reworking of the state’s mental health system, but whether it’s enough to completely cover its budget gap remains an open question, according to one lawmaker in the middle of the reform effort. There’s general agreement the state should take over services required but not...
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