VOTE on TAX CHANGE - JULY 10, 2007: Public Meeting Scheduled for June 12, 2007
Project Destiny is a proposal for Dallas, Polk, and Warren counties to add a
1˘ local sales tax. This will be in addition to and separate from the 1˘ school-related sales tax currently in place. If the proposal passes, the
sales tax rate in Des Moines will rise to 7%.
A conversation with the Des Moines City Manager Rick Clark and other
advocates for the proposed sales tax will be held on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Central Presbyterian Church. The church is located at 3829 Grand Avenue. (For people who take the bus, the last #1 bus runs from 42nd and Ingersoll to downtown at approximately 8:11 p.m.) The event is hosted by AMOS, A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy.
The special election will be held on July 10, 2007. The new Iowa law
allowing same-day voter registration will NOT be in effect for this
election. If you want to vote on this tax proposal, the deadline to register
in person is Friday, June 29th. If registering by mail, the postmark must be no later than June 29th. Absentee ballots may be cast now through Monday,July 9th, at the Polk County Auditor’s office or requested by mail. If voting by mail, the ballots must be returned with a postmark no later than July 9th.
Unfortunately, there is no Internet site or print publication that even
attempts to offer a complete and balanced look at Project Destiny. This is
not good because there are myriad and far-reaching reasons for this
particular proposal being put to voters at this particular time. At the
extremes, large property-owning corporations will see a significant
reduction in property taxes paid and low-income renters will see an
undefined increase in sales taxes paid. Enticements have been added to the ballot measure to encourage people in the middle to support the tax, and there are basic structural reasons for considering a sales tax. However, there are also many problems such a tax can cause for Des Moines, its residents, and surrounding communities.
Guest Author: M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa .
Email This Post
digg
stumble
reddit
tag this
12 responses so far ↓
1 Jack Hollander // Jun 11, 2007 at 1:00 pm
The Yes to Destiny Campaign does have a website with lots of information including a FAQ sheet, general sales tax info, and descriptions of each participating city’s plan - www.yestodestiny.org.
2 Sandy Renshaw // Jun 11, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Thanks Jack, for letting us know what the website address is.
Sandy
3 Richard Christie // Jun 11, 2007 at 5:36 pm
www.nolocaloption.com offers information against the proposed local option tax.
4 M.R. Field // Jun 13, 2007 at 8:53 am
About 30 people attended the June 12 meeting. Questions were asked of Martha Willits of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, Des Moines City Manager Rick Clark, and Kent Sovern, who was introduced by AMOS as being an architect of an early version of Project Destiny.
Dallas, Polk, and Warren counties had to obtain special permission from the state legislature to hold a regional vote, which was considered one of the high points of the plan. Under the proposal, 33% of the money collected will reduce property taxes, 34% pays for regional amenities, and another 33% is allocated to either more property tax reduction, more amenities, or public safety, et al. Because each community decides how it wants to spend the last 33%, over 40 different proposals will be voted upon by various taxpayers in the 3 counties. The City of Des Moines’ city council decided to apply its 33% towards additional property tax reduction.
The majority of questions were about who would pay the most taxes. Sovern admitted that most residents would pay more in total taxes. Sovern also said trails, et al. were presented as the bonus from the tax because that is what young professionals in the Greater Des Moines Partnership wanted.
A 15-member board appointed by mayors, et al. would oversee spending of the 34% going towards amenities. This Tri-County Regional Authority was a matter of concern. For some people, it was sufficient that elected officials appoint the board members, with term limits. Other people continued to worry about lack of substantial public accountability with an appointed board.
Cownie’s claim that low-income people do not buy taxable items was met with derision after the meeting. Cownie also claimed that everyone could use bike trails. I took exception as there are people who cannot afford bicycles. Cownie responded that the city could find me a bicycle. I found this insulting as I never said I could not afford a bicycle. In addition, giving one person a bicycle does nothing to provide transportation for all the other people without bikes or cars.
Alternatives to the sales tax, the proposed tax’s impact on other tax proposals, and ways to ease the tax burden on low-income people were all discussed. One person expressed concern about the sales tax due to the anticipated request later this year by the Polk County Board of Supervisors for voters to approve a $180 million bond referendum for a new courthouse facility. After the meeting, another person said that tax abatements on new housing rose by $300 million since 2002, adding that the sales tax increase would not be needed if tax abatements weren’t so easily available.
5 christi // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Thanks for the great info and links. Much appreciated.
I linked back to you and gave you credit on my DSM-area parenting site, smalltownfun.squarespace.com. Do you have a trackback? I couldn’t find it or I would have let you know about my post that way. Thanks!
6 Sandy Renshaw // Jun 14, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Hi Richard,
Thanks for stopping by with a link.
Sandy
7 Sandy Renshaw // Jun 14, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Hi Christi,
Thanks for the link love. I am checking on the trackback feature.
Sandy
8 Josh // Jun 23, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I’ve talked about Project Destiny on my site a few times. At first it sounded like a great idea, especially for downtown, but all the hemming and hawing, and people changing how they’ll use the money (Waukee) has me pretty nervous about it.
9 Around Des Moines » Project Destiny Vote in Two Weeks // Jun 25, 2007 at 8:57 pm
[…] Reading through several comments available on the Internet about Project Destiny, I have to agree with the headline offered by one Des Moines area television station. Quite a few people do not even know that there will be a vote on the proposal for a new 1% sales tax in the counties of Dallas, Polk, and Warren. Even for people who do know about the July 10th election, there is little understanding of the full consequences of the vote. (Read an earlier Around Des Moines post on Project Destiny.) […]
10 G.V.S // Jul 8, 2007 at 8:42 pm
As usual, people with money to spare don’t understand how regressive a sales tax increase is for folks struggling to get by financially, not to mention, how they still don’t get how a sales tax increase effects the poorest of the poor, who already can’t afford the basic necessities. Respectfully, Mayor Cownie, I’m extremely disappointed in your attitude and lack of understanding of this issue. Second, what about accountability? There doesn’t seem to be anyone who can answer this important but simple question. I say, stop giving away tax money (tax abatements) to all those wealthier folks qualifying for and buying those expensive homes. And, please help me understand why church property is tax exempt? If you really want to reduce property taxes, stop giving away property tax money away! And, isn’t there anyone out there who can think of the same old box, is there anyone who can revise the system so it’s accountable and fair? Third, if the Iowa Legislature really wanted to reduce property taxes, they could easily create a viable and fair law requiring Insurance Companies to cover conditions such as, mental illness (parity.) Now that’s real tax relief! The problem is that people in power are always thinking of ways to spend our tax dollars and they never want accountability (even though they say they do.) Just think how much more money we would have to spend on things that communities enjoy (education, jobs, arts….)
11 Gramps // Jul 9, 2007 at 4:52 am
If Destiny, by some quirk passes, be ready to organize a local ballot issue or taxpayers organization that is really for the individual and not large corporations.
If you are intersted in developing such an organization, a really strong one to fight for citizen taxpayer rights, please email me at t_rex_johnson@yahoo.com. Please express any comments or concerns you may have about local government and election issues.
If Destiny fails, this organization should still be established to fight any new proposal of Destiny’s type and to provide “education” to all voters.
Please join me in voting NO on “DUMP DESTINY TUESDAY” unless you wish to be governed by the puppets of Des Moines’ largest corporations.
12 Gramps // Jul 9, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Projected annual tax relief for Principal should be $635,715 annually based upon projected city budgets. This may be as high as 6,357,150 over the ten year period. This would be a pretty good return on Principal’s $100,000 investment in getting Destiny passed. Isn’t democracy great!
Calcs: Valuation of Principal Real Estate 258,420,890 *.00246 = 635,715 (2.46/1000) annual savings x 10 = 6,358,000 for 10 years
Assumptions all property is in DM, City manager’s figures are correct, County assessor’s figures are correct.
For Principal to offset its reduction in sales tax they would have to spend 63,571,500 in taxable goods and services annually.
The same calculations could be applied to any one of the other top 20 commercial taxpayers in the county. I chose Principal because they are at the top of the owners list and contributed to Destiny.
Leave a Comment