At the Monday morning meeting of the Wright County Board of Supervisors, they approved three resolutions certifying or decertifying debt. Auditor Betty Ellis explained this is an annual action that establishes how much she will be collecting in tax increment financing (TIF) to pay off debts.
The first resolution certified the debt for the ReNewTrients TIF for the 175th Street road project that leads up to the business. Ellis explained there is a balance of $380,000 left on the project. Per their development agreement, ReNewTrients will be kicking in $150,000 over ten years. Another resolution certified around $10 million in debt for a variety of urban renewal projects that included the Agribusiness park, Eagle Grove School Project, sewer project and others. Finally, a third resolution decertified some debt for the Windfarm TIF, the Mid-American Energy windfarm in the southern part of the county. The county originally issued bonds in the amount of $3.5 million for that project. Refinancing in the last year saved the county $181,150.
An additional resolution amended transfers to the newly created public health basic and supplemental funds. With department changes such as reduced staff, Ellis explained that the supplemental fund does not need as many dollars, so the money is being divided differently between the two funds, although the original amount of $600,000 is still being transferred.
In the weekly COVID update, Sandy McGrath said the county is at 719 cases as of Monday. She is pleased that contact tracing is still working, and they are not seeing cases spread beyond the first layer of contacts. She also gave a note of caution about Halloween activities. She said the Iowa Department of Public Health has issued detailed guidance that can be found online. McGrath added, “It can still be a fun and SAFE holiday if precautions are taken.”
In other business, Chairman Dean Kluss was named as the board’s contact for the recently filed Pogge lawsuit. County engineer Adam Clemons and the supervisors have been named in the lawsuit by the Pogge Trust in a matter pertaining to Pogge’s access to property that is divided by a drainage ditch. Mark and Connie Hinton requested permission to use the courthouse lawn Sunday, November 1 at 1 p.m. for a prayer circle. They noted it is a non-partisan and non-denominational event where all are welcome. The board approved.
Denise Baker (Recorder) and Angela Petersen (Treasurer’s office) were both presented certificates for 25 years of employment with the county.
