Author: Dean Close

Former First Lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack will join Monica Vernon, candidate for Congress in Iowa’s 1st District for Get Out The Vote events across northeast Iowa on Saturday, November 5th. “Northeast Iowa needs Monica Vernon in Congress,” said Christie Vilsack. “I know Monica will go to Washington and be a strong advocate for early childhood education and stand up for Iowa’s families.  We need someone who knows how to get things done and I believe Monica Vernon is the right person for the job.” The two will appear in “Get Out The Vote” events in several cities, including Vinton, where they will speak at Benton County Democratic Headquarters at 603 W. 8th Street, at 1:30...

Editor’s Note: Assessor Larry Andreesen wrote this in response to comments made about the policies of the assessor’s office by candidate Richard Primmer. See those HERE. By Larry Andreesen, Benton County Assessor In regards to comments and statements made by Mr. Primmer in his ‘Meet the Candidate’ profile posted on Vinton Today October 25, 2016: The letter that was sent out to commercial & industrial property owners by the Benton County Assessor’s Office requesting income information was sent per a request from Vanguard Appraisals for the revaluation. Our cover letter stated it was asked to be returned, not required. When commercial property owners contacted our office we told them it was a request, and only if part of the property was leased. We have not told any property owners that this is required information. The future need and budgeting for a reappraisal of commercial and industrial properties has been discussed each year at the Benton County Conference Board since January 2008, which was prior to the state of Iowa property tax reform of 2013. The last Benton County commercial revaluation was in 1995. Part of that state of Iowa tax reform was the Business Property Tax Credit. This credit, currently, can be worth $3400 or more per parcel to a taxpayer. The Benton County’s Assessor Office has worked diligently by contacting commercial & industrial property owners to achieve a...

Editor’s Note: We continue our election coverage with this profile of Joan Flecksing, the Democratic candidate for the District 3 Benton County Board of Supervisor seat. District 3 covers the southern part of Benton County, but voters from the entire county vote on all candidates. As with all other profiles, we offer this in the candidate’s own words. Benton County Supervisor democratic candidate in District III, Joan Flecksing is 39 years old and resides in Walford with her husband, Bob Ford jr. and their three children, Olivia, Zoey and Dominic. Born in rural Toddville and as the youngest of twelve children, raised in agriculture by her hard working parents, Robert and Barbara, neither of whom had a high school education, but who stressed the value of education for their children.This fostered in Joan a passion for education for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, with the understanding that it is first and foremost through combinations of education and training that a society can stop cycles of dependency, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, crime and failure to contribute to one’s own community. Paired with education was Joan’s upbringing on a large homestead that was as self-sufficient as possible, working on a llama farm from the age of 12 to 17, sports, church and 4-H. After graduating from Regis High School in January of 1995, Joan would go onto Kirkwood Community College...