LOCAL GOVERNMENT – 2012 All-bill summary

SF 2137 – City/ County Property taxes

SF 2146 — Rural Water District Annual Meeting

SF 2292 — Ankeny legalizing Act

HF 524 – Special appraiser’s fund

HF 2101 — Public Land Survey Corner Certificates

HF 2231 – Memorial Hospital Commissioners Residency Qualifications

HF 2323 — Residential rental property and city utilities/city enterprises

HF 2369 — Burial Transit Permit

SF 2137 changes the tax levy for joint county-city buildings from being a specific levy under 384.12(15) to being under the debt service levy, as new subsection 384.4(4). Current Code section 346.27(22) authorizes each such county and city to levy and collect property tax sufficient to pay the annual rent payable under the lease when it is due. [3/12: 50-0]

SF 2146 involves rural water districts meeting requirements. The bylaws of each rural water district are required to include provision for an annual meeting of members by July 31 of each year following the incorporation of the district. Current law requires the annual meeting occur between January 1 and May 1 of each year. [2/27: 50-0]

SF 2292 is a legalizing bill for the City of Ankeny. All bidders that would have had interest in a letting were notified directly prior to receiving the final bids. The notice was sent to all local bid rooms for public review. However, the city neglected to send the notice to the paper. All actions except the newspaper notification were done correctly.  The successful bidder gave a good bid and was awarded the project. There have been no comments to the city regarding the project, nor any comments received following the notifications that were put in the paper recently to meet the requirements of the state for this bill. [3/6:48-1 (Sodders “no”)]

HF 524 combines the special appraiser’s fund with the assessment expense fund in the office of the local assessor and specifies that the levy rate for the assessment expense fund cannot exceed the rate of the previous combined two funds. [3/19: 50-0]

HF 2101 allows more than one United States public land survey system corner to be included on a United States public land survey corner certificate recorded by a county recorder. The purpose of the bill is simply to reduce the cost to the public. Currently, a corner certificate is not to have more than one corner being certified on the same certificate. Most survey projects would have four to five corners. Large projects may have dozens of corners. The cost per certificate is around $7. The cost to record the certificate is simply passed on to the landowner similar to any tax. [3/19: 50-0]

HF 2231 requires that each commissioner of a memorial hospital must be a resident of this state and reside within the service area of the memorial hospital. Current law requires that each commissioner for a memorial hospital be a resident of the county in which the memorial hospital is located. The change offers flexibility in the requirements to find more people to serve. The bill affects three hospitals in Iowa. [3/26:50-0]

HF 2323 will keep in law the requirement that landlords must provide the names of tenants to water utilities. If they do provide the names, the utilities will not be able to provide a lien against the landlord for unpaid bills. In addition, the water utilities will be required to provide landlords with a tenant’s name if the tenant contacts the utility directly and provides a new name. Under current law, an apartment building owner must notify the utility within 10 days if the building changes ownership. The amendment changes that to a 30-day notice. [3/28: 49-0 (Houser excused)]

HF 2369 removes recorders from the list of officials that may issue a burial transit permit when someone dies because they do not receive all the relevant information on whether a body will be buried in a timely manner, if the burial place meets state requirements or if there was communicable diseases. The permits would still be issued by a county medical examiner or a funeral director. [3/21: 50-0]