The Black Hawk County board of supervisors will offer an economic welcome home to Waterloo-area veterans returning from serving in the war on terror. Supervisor Robert Smith says the county board wanted to honor their service. When they put their heads together they decided one of the best things they could do was offering help with their property taxes. This week, the board agreed to set aside 50-thousand dollars of county money for property tax relief. They specified that the money will be for soldiers in the lower-paid enlisted and officer classifications. It’s not cash but a kind of voucher system applied to their property tax. Soldiers and Marines in that income classification who served in the Iraq war on terrorism will be eligible to get a break of up to six-hundred dollars on their property tax bills, with the grants awarded after February 14th. County officials want to allow time to notify overseas personnel about the program, which appears to be the first of its kind in the state of Iowa. Two other counties in the state — Polk and Woodbury — also offer tax relief to troops, but their policies defer property taxes without interest until a military person returns home from active duty.
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