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Missing form means western Iowa town can’t collect taxes

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January 16th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

BLENCOE, Iowa (AP) – A missing financial report with the Iowa state auditor means Blencoe has no legal authority to collect property taxes this fiscal year. The slip-up is shaving the western Iowa town’s $200,000 operating budget by about a-third. The missing form is a report from the 2010 fiscal year. All Iowa cities produce a report wrapping up the previous fiscal year. Then they draw up budgets, identifying tax rates for the coming year estimating how much revenue they plan to collect. While Blencoe filed its budget on time, it lacked the previous year’s financial report.  State officials say without a financial report, there’s no budget.  And, without a budget, Blencoe can’t collect taxes.  Blencoe is considering a loan and using future taxes to pay it off.