TRC Today
The Taxpayers Research Council
supports the 10-year extension of the special 1% sales tax in Woodbury County to fund school infrastructure improvements. The primary reasons for the TRC's support are as follows:
- Age and condition of buildings: Several schools in the Sioux City Community School District (SCCSD) are close to or over 100 years old, many are in need of repair.
- Economic development: Expanding the tax base relies on future economic development. Businesses look at quality education and school facilities in choosing locations for their businesses.
- Need to Update Buildings: The district has begun updating facilities, starting with three new middle schools and one new elementary school currently in progress, through the use of the first ten years of the sales tax. To continue to provide new and safe facilities, another ten years of sales tax is needed.
- Property taxes: Local option sales tax provides funding from everyone who shops in Woodbury County, local or visitors who travel in Woodbury County from different counties or states. The sales tax provides a mechanism to build facilities that is not available without passing significant general obligation bonds, which would need to come from property taxes.
- Improvements Now Save Money: The current local option sales tax expenditures through April of 2005 have equated to $57,607,000 spent on construction of new facilities. In addition to new construction, the District has spent a substantial amount of money upgrading existing facilities. An additional $10,061,000 has been spent on new roofs, boilers, electrical upgrades, etc., along with land and demolition costs, and interest expense. Currently bond ratings are very favorable; with interest rates rising it is better for the District to finance its building projects now. It is also possible that construction costs may be reduced with current competitive bidding climate.
The Taxpayers Research Council supports the move of the Sioux City museum to the former JC Penney location in downtown Sioux City. The TRC believes that the site will be the most cost effective alternative for the taxpayers. The move should help turn around the decline in assessed values of the surrounding properties. The former JC Penney site will result in less overall cost to the taxpayers from the exhibit costs to long term operational costs. There is ample parking within a one block radius of the site. There is a strong potential for increased parking revenue from meters and ramps. The skywalk also provides easy access for workers on their lunch hours. The former JC Penney site also provides the potential for long term growth, increased exhibit space, combination of two existing museum locations into one, and the ability to arrange for national exhibits. The national exhibits will increase the usage of the museum. The larger location will allow the museum to apply for grant to defray exhibition costs. The downtown location will be ADA accessible and easy for visitors to locate.
On the reverse side of the general election ballot is a proposal to increase the telephone line surcharge from $.25 to $1.00. The E911 board is proposing this increase due to the need to fund equipment for local law enforcement officials to communicate with each other. The TRC supports this ballot iniative for the following reasons: 1) the increased revenue (approximately $500,000) will be used to pay for radio equipment that will allow individual public safety entities to communicate with each other, and 2) the use of the surcharge provides a funding source from a user fee, rather than property taxes. A business will have its phone line cost capped at 100 phones. The TRC does feel that a sunset provision should have been included on the ballot. A 10 year sunset on the revenue would not have been unreasonable. In addition, local elected officials need to communicate with the State of Iowa regarding the allocation of the surcharge dollars from cell phone users. Currently, the State collects all of the cell phone surcharge revenue.
Tonight the Sioux City Council accepted the City Manager's recommendation to award the City solid waste, yard waste, and recycling collection services to Gill Hauling, Inc. This decision was based on anticipated savings for the City of approximately $885,000 over the five year contract. The City will also receive approximately $600,000 for the sale of its collection trucks to Gill Hauling. There is also a possibility that the City can receive additional revenue from Gill Hauling through the sale of maintenance and fuel, along with revenue for storage of the collection trucks. The Taxpayers Research Council supported the awarding of this contract to Gill Hauling not only for the reasons listed above, but also because of the condition of the solid waste fund. The City returned to City solid waste collection approximately seven years ago. Since that time, the deficit has grown significantly. At one point the deficit was approximately $4 million dollars. Also during this time, the City has had at least three rate increases with the most recent, $2.00 increase in May of 2003. The rates are currently at $11.50 per month with a discount for Senior Citizens. Despite the increases, the deficit is still estimated to be $2,200,000. The Council made the correct decision to return the City solid waste collection to a private hauler at this time.
On August 9, 2004 the Sioux City Council will be discussing whether to award the City's solid waste contract to a private hauler or let it remain with the City. I recently served on the city's ad hoc Solid Waste Review Committee on behalf of the TRC. The Committee determined that Gill Hauling was the low bidder for the solid waste services. In addition, the Committee had concerns about the size of the deficit in the Solid Waste Fund. Projections given to the Committee were between $3 and $4 million dollars. The Solid Waste Review Committee recommended to the City Council, that Gill Hauling be awarded the bid to ensure cost effective delivery of service to City residents, and to allow the City to gain control of the solid waste fund deficit.
On Tuesday, June 1, 2004 the Woodbury County Supervisors will hold a Public Hearing at 10:30 a.m. to authorize a Capital Loan Note for $800,000. The TRC Board of Directors opposes this loan. The TRC feels that Woodbury County needs to do strategic planning, and create a long term capital plan for the County before it issues any capital loan notes.
The Sioux City School District will hold a public hearing on May 17th at 5:00 p.m. for public input on accepting a lease agreement for Roberts Stadium from Morningside College. The TRC is in favor of the School District accepting this lease agreement.
The City of Sioux City is expected to receive bids on solid waste collection, recycling, and yard waste on May 18th.
Updates from the TRC's Executive Director. The Taxpayer's Research Council of Woodbury County, Iowa: We research the issues and attend the meetings that the average local taxpayer doesn't have the time to. You can be a part of the TRC by joining today.
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