Mason City’s city administrator concerned about rumors for upcoming legislative session

MASON CITY — With the next legislative session three months away, Mason City’s city administrator says there’s some concerning rumors about bills that would have an impact on cities and counties that could be proposed.

Aaron Burnett says it’s very concerning that the legislature might address property taxes once again.  “If you look at the history, the city has been very solid on keeping its rates low, keeping it actually lower than inflation, lower than the state, but there’s some talk of property tax legislation that could have a hard 2% cap. When you consider the cost of inflation, just the cost of workforce and all the pressures that are affecting the ability for a city to provide service, the 2% cap would be an absolute constriction on the ability to continue to provide services the way we do today.”

Burnett says there’s also rumors about potential changes in the Local Option Sales Tax.   “Which is if you remember was an elected tax that the City of Mason City passed a few years ago with no sunset, and was widely supported, had overwhelming support from the community, which is pretty common all across the state that folks support the Local Option Sales Tax as a revenue stream for local government. Unfortunately there’s some conversation about possibly changing Local Option Sales Tax, so we’re working to provide information to our employees, to the public, we’ll continue to just highlight the importance of that.”

Burnett says the altering of the Local Option Sales Tax would have an impact on the city.  “For Mason City, it’s an absolutely vital source of funds for our fire department, for our police department, for recreation and some of the other services that we provide. Again it’s about building those connections with our partners all across the state to really highlight the importance of these revenues for local services.”

50% of the Local Option Sales Tax revenue goes towards property tax relief, 40% for street and park improvements, and 10% goes into the general fund.

86% of Mason City voters approved the continuation of the tax in September 2022.