Human Services Funding and Tax Incentive Giveaways
This meeting the council reviews the budget guidelines for 2014-2015 (item 38).
Many years ago the voters of Ames approved 1% sales tax referendum (see the sales tax history) directing that 60% of the sales tax goes to reduce property taxes that pay for services like roads, police and fire protection and 40% be expended on "...human service agencies, the arts, and community betterment."
This Tuesday the council sets the 2015-2016 funding levels Human Services (ASSET) . It is often tempting for city councils to use the funds earmarked for "Human Services and the Arts" on items that are traditionally paid for out of the general fund (property tax). If the health of the fund is considered an issue in the discussion, it the discussion should also cover how some local option dollars go to support items that are very justified coming from property taxes.
The idea of "community betterment" is a vague one, and council might be wise to treat its meaning conservatively, and ensure its use is not for something traditionally purchased with property taxes dollars.
The Ames City Council begins at 7:00 PM Dec 16th. The agenda includes:
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Item 26 -- Hearing on repeal and replacement of Chapter 31, Historic Preservation. This update will clarify the opportunities and regulations for homeowners in the Old Town Historic District.
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Item 27-- Hearing on Southeast 16th Street First (Deery Brothers) Urban Revitalization Area Plan Amendment. The state of Iowa does not support economic development in retail, as it picks losers and winners. I agree with this philosophy.
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Item 28 -- Motion establishing FY 2015/16 ASSET total funding allocation. Asset is working to give the council a better understanding of the need in the human services. Hopefully, understanding better what the needs are will give council more comfort in providing extra dollars to meet those needs.
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Item 32 -- Reporting requirements for pawnbrokers and other secondhand-goods dealers. This issues is an opportunity to create information that would create more challenges for the sales of stolen goods. The tradeoff would be more record keeping for businesses who deal in used goods and some privacy invasion in personal transactions. This will be an interesting discussion.
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Item 33 -- Urban Revitalization Area for 517 Lincoln Way. This property possesses two of the criteria required to establish an Urban Revitalization Area. The URA concept is to help revitalize older areas in the community to help compete with the ease of perimeter development. This helps remove blight and utilize existing infrastructure to provide services in the community. This project is a good use of our existing abatement program.
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Item 34 -- Staff report on wireless facility siting requirements. There are new regulations with regards to wireless infrastructure. The City of Ames must quickly produce a way to administer these locally.
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Item 36 -- Resolution endorsing Iowa Economic Development Authority Application for Financial Assistance for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., with local match in form of Industrial Property Tax Abatement. The State of Iowa is asking that the City of Ames give a 5 year Tax Abatement worth over a million dollars so that Boehringer Ingelheim receive $167,790 in tax credits. While currently a 5 year tax abatement for industrial users is automatic by policy in Ames, this property is in a part of the research park that will go to pay for other commitments. So an abatement of this magnitude will mean no revenue to help pay for the research park expansion for 5-years. This is a complex giveaway.
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Item 37 -- First passage of ordinance repealing Municipal Code Section 17.31 pertaining to Lap Dance Ordinance. The State Supreme Court has determined, "that local government is expressly preempted from enacting or enforcing an ordinance that regulates live nude dancing, as it is considered obscene material" and regulation of obscene material is a power granted only to the state by law. Council could have chosen to lobby our legislators to alter the law and give us this power, or left it alone or repeal it. While I find these discussions very interesting, our limited resources led me to support the repeal of the ordinance to keep our code consistent with state code. A good argument could be made that this should have been a community wide discussion before the repeal as the issue is important to many. However, as the result would have been an unenforceable ordinance either way, I find it hard to do anything else other than support the repeal.
Thanks for reading,
Matthew Goodman
City Council At-Large
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