Watch the County Supervisors Snub the Taxpayers. See the OCTA's newest video Here. See the OCTA's Comp Board video Here.

Co-Bank's Troubling Press Statement?

See Co-Bank's troubling August 28, 2017 press statement on their efforts to shore up their capital. Check the highlighted items on page 2 especially.

Applicants for Osceola County Attorney Narrowed Down to These Three Attorneys

See attached applications below. For professional courtesy we blocked out the past salaries for two of the applicants. Applicant Scott Johnson failed to disclose his past salaries. The salaries appeared to demonstrate the glut of law school graduates across the land and that we'd be offering a significant pay raise for the two who filled out the entire application.

Iowa Court of Appeals Rules On Harris Farmer Lawsuit

Looks like the case to determine the merits of the county resolution creating the Harris Urban Renewal District has been turned back by the State Court of Appeals to a local District Court. See the court's ruling filed today at our link below. Our understanding is that if the county resolution creating this Harris URD is found to be unlawful the entire thing would collapse. But that will be in the hands of the district court, if the farmers decide to take it there. ~Rochelle Buchman

CoBank Financial Profile

See our seven easy-to-read charts of the financial trends of CoBank. Download them at the link below. Source for this data was from their own financial statements found on their website.

What Does The County's Bond Attorney Know About CFE That He Is Not Telling?

A special meeting of the Osceola County Board of Supervisors was called for Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, to discuss one agenda item - the attached Memorandum of Understanding between Osceola County and the Cooperative Farmers Elevator. Language in the Memo, drawn up by the County's Des Moines bonding attorney, says "If CFE fails to complete the Project as has been presented to the County by the timeframe identified herein...." Why now? Where is this coming from? What does the bonding lawyer know that was not disclosed at the meeting?

$10.5 Million Sibley-Ocheyedan Unfunded Pension & Medical Liabilities

To see the documentation on the liabilities the school board has with district employees (present & former) see the highlighted sections found on pages 37 thru 40 of the attached FY2015 audit.

Compensation Of Spencer-Post State Patrol & Other State Officers - You Won't Believe It!

See the report attached below of compensation (ending FY2016) for all state patrol officers, deputy state fire marshal, division of criminal investigation and division of narcotics investigation employees serving Osceola County, based out of the Spencer, Iowa post. The problem with excessive government spending does start in Washington. They set the poor example for Des Moines. And Des Moines sets the poor example for our county leaders. Keep in mind the average worker's salary in Osceola County is around $30,000 annually.

Osceola County Employee Benefits Roll FY2016

FY 2016 just ended (June 30th) and we received the total benefits listing for all county and public safety employees from the county auditor’s office. Do note there are two tabs on the bottom of the spreadsheet attached below. The data is the same in both tabs. The one is sorted in declining amounts of total compensation from largest to smallest. (Note the header column is in red.) The second tab is the same data but sorted by department (we called it category) first and then by largest to smallest.

Response to Judge's Ruling On Harris Farmer Lawsuit

The obfuscation found in the county's records, where they attempt to establish the Harris TIF, has led to the farmers filing an amended petition for summary judgement asking the court to find the TIF illegal. They've also filed to remove the county's bond counsel as an expert witness, if it would still go to trial. This might be the lawyer Senator David Johnson recommended they need to get better counsel from. Taxpayers have paid Mr. Danos plenty already.

See their pleadings attached below.

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