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Hamburg, Iowa —
By asking each incorporated town in the county to pay the same per capita fee to help with expenses associated with the Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Kevin Aistrope thought he was doing the right thing in treating everyone the same. But the cash-strapped City of Imogene is having problems footing the bill.
Mayor Dorothy Colwell and Clerk Terri Poe came before the Fremont County Board of Supervisors looking for guidance.
“If we do this, we will have to unincorporate in several years,” Poe said. “It’s not that we disagree with having to pay for these services like everyone else, we just need some guidance.”
She said the city only has a regular income of $5,000 and barely scrapes by now.
The Sheriff is asking Imogene, like every other city in the county, pay $15 per capita. With its 66 residents, this translates into $990 a year.
Colwell and Poe said the city is levied as high as it can legally go and it does not have any utilities on which rates can be raised.
Poe said the town lost its fire department because it could not keep up with the state-mandated standards and the township chose to send its funds to Shenandoah.
“To have some sort of coverage, we made a 28E agreement with Essex,” Poe said.
The cost of the fire protection is $500 a year.
Poe said the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is also coming down on Imogene. Since there is no city sewer, each household has its own septic system.
She said one household is dumping its sewage into a creek that runs through town and will not stop. Since DNR officials found this out, they are trying to force the town to update all the septic systems.
“That’s another monkey on our back,” Poe said. “It’s not looking pretty for the City of Imogene.”
Poe gets a small monthly salary; however, all the council people are volunteers and there are no city workers. She said there is a handy-man who will do things as needed and works for $10 an hour.
“We’ve been fighting for years to keep Imogene alive,” Colwell said. “We’d like to keep our town if we could.”
The Supervisors suggested, since Page County Rural Water supplies the town, Imogene officials contact the company to see if the per capita fee could be assessed to monthly water bills.
“If we say everyone has to pay except Imogene, then everyone is going to say, ‘Hold on.’” Supervisor Chuck Larson said.
By asking each incorporated town in the county to pay the same per capita fee to help with expenses associated with the Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Kevin Aistrope thought he was doing the right thing in treating everyone the same. But the cash-strapped City of Imogene is having problems footing the bill.
Mayor Dorothy Colwell and Clerk Terri Poe came before the Fremont County Board of Supervisors looking for guidance.
“If we do this, we will have to unincorporate in several years,” Poe said. “It’s not that we disagree with having to pay for these services like everyone else, we just need some guidance.”
She said the city only has a regular income of $5,000 and barely scrapes by now.
The Sheriff is asking Imogene, like every other city in the county, pay $15 per capita. With its 66 residents, this translates into $990 a year.
Colwell and Poe said the city is levied as high as it can legally go and it does not have any utilities on which rates can be raised.
Poe said the town lost its fire department because it could not keep up with the state-mandated standards and the township chose to send its funds to Shenandoah.
“To have some sort of coverage, we made a 28E agreement with Essex,” Poe said.
The cost of the fire protection is $500 a year.
Poe said the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is also coming down on Imogene. Since there is no city sewer, each household has its own septic system.
She said one household is dumping its sewage into a creek that runs through town and will not stop. Since DNR officials found this out, they are trying to force the town to update all the septic systems.
“That’s another monkey on our back,” Poe said. “It’s not looking pretty for the City of Imogene.”
Poe gets a small monthly salary; however, all the council people are volunteers and there are no city workers. She said there is a handy-man who will do things as needed and works for $10 an hour.
“We’ve been fighting for years to keep Imogene alive,” Colwell said. “We’d like to keep our town if we could.”
The Supervisors suggested, since Page County Rural Water supplies the town, Imogene officials contact the company to see if the per capita fee could be assessed to monthly water bills.
“If we say everyone has to pay except Imogene, then everyone is going to say, ‘Hold on.’” Supervisor Chuck Larson said.
