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Government

Major Road Projects in New Bettendorf Budget

Drivers in Bettendorf will have to get used to finding alternate routes this year. Tuesday night the city council will hold a public hearing on the new budget, and it includes millions of dollars for major road, sewer, and storm sewer projects.

City Administrator Decker Ploehn says the 101 million dollar budget includes lowering the property tax rate by 5 cents, but the owner of an average home in the city will still pay nearly 30 dollars more in taxes next year.

"As you know there's really three functions - one is the assessed value, one is the rollback, and one is the actual levy rate. We can only affect the levy rate."

The increase is mainly due to the state rollback - in the coming year homes will be taxed at 56 per cent of their value in Iowa, up from 55 per cent this year. And Ploehn says recently updated assessments will not take effect until next year.

The list of road projects includes large sections of Middle Road and Spruce Hills Drive.

"Our two major north arteries - we're going to be doing at the same time. We're trying to get this work done in anticipation of the I-74 project because that will affect those streets and we want to get those done and cleared."

Following Tuesday night's public hearing, Bettendorf aldermen may give the proposed budget their final approval. It must be submitted to the state by next week ( 3/15 ), for the fiscal year beginning in July. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.