The cost of doing business in North Liberty has increased suddenly and dramatically; much to the surprise of those who already do business there.

“The tax increase is outrageous,” said Audine Manuel, who has owned Manuel’s Funeral Home for the past 41 years.

“It (Manuel’s business property tax bill) was around $25 hundred last year, last time around, now it’s around $5 thousand, so it doubled,” Manuel added.

Manuel is confident that he’ll be able to survive the tax hike, mainly because he also runs Manuel’s Insurance Agency and a small trucking firm. But Manuel doesn’t believe every business in the small town will be able to cope.

“Some might make it, some will make it, some are going to be pressed, some of the smaller ones,” Manuel said. “I’d say people are worried a little that they’ll never have the small business man back like they once did. At one time we had three grocery stores on Main Street, now there’s, we have one.”

Garrett McBride of Midwest Logistics agrees. “We’ll be able to weather this, this year. Next year, year after, I don’t know,” he said.

The assessed value of Midwest Logistics went from $260-thousand to $490-thousand. McBride says the company’s tax bill increased from $10-thousand to $22-thousand.

“We’re just a small company, we can’t foresee a 100-percent, almost a 100-percent increase in our costs,” said McBride. “This is going to make a hurting town, possibly into a ghost town. It could wipe out what little is left.”

Kelly Prentkowski has run Tangles Salon in North Liberty for 20-years. She has never seen anything like her last property tax bill.

“The assessed value on my building went up 104-percent, and that’s a lot,” said Prentkowski.

In terms of dollars, Prentkowski’s building is now valued at $187-thousand. That’s $68-thousand more than the current asking price for the building down the block. “And that’s a larger building I think, it has one extra rental than why my building is.”

Prentkowski figured that Tangles total tax bill for the year would approach $6-thousand. “You know, we’re a small business and to try to budget for the year, you know, that’s not in my budget this year to pay that extra.”

The payment date for St. Joseph County Tax bills is December 11th.