Supervisors Pledge Support For Early Childhood Development And Recreation Center

The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors, on a 2 to 1 vote pledged to offer support for the proposed early childhood development and recreation center.

The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors, on a 2 to 1 vote pledged to offer support for the proposed early childhood development and recreation center.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The topic has been a divisive one for the county and community. Should an early childhood development and recreation center be built near the current elementary, and will it be paid for the with the one cent sales tax?

The Oskaloosa City Council and the Oskaloosa School District have all spoken up and said they would be a partner in financing the facility with use from the one cent sales tax, also known as the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) fund. The City of Oskaloosa has pledged approximately 10 million dollars, while the Oskaloosa School District has said it believes that it may be able to help to the tune of 7.5 million.

The only larger government entity to not be on board was the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors, who would be representing the rural portion of the LOST fund for the ballot issue.

In an over 30 minute back-and-forth conversation between the supervisors began after proposed ballot language was presented by Supervisor Mark Doland. Doland’s proposal would have 50 percent of funds raised through LOST revenue going towards roads and infrastructure. Forty percent of the revenue would go towards the early childhood development and recreation center, and 10 percent going towards the proposed environmental learning center at Caldwell Park.

Doland said the understanding with the proposal would be that proceeds from the sale of the County Farm would be used to help finance the environmental learning center, and a contribution from the City of Oskaloosa would also be used for the project.

Supervisor Mike Vander Molen said that he would like to see the financing options for the early childhood development and recreation center be fashioned in a way that would allow for up and down votes from the public. “If the project’s worth doing, I think they can get the support,” said Vander Molen, who believes the projects would become part of the debt levy to facilitate such a voting process.

Vander Molen said that during budget meetings, the possibility of bonding for road projects was brought up. “The discussion was, do you bond for G29, or do you turn it to gravel. We had a long real discussion about that. And so, if you’re going to end up bonding for some of these projects, and take away money from our road system.”

Vander Molen also believes that the LOST ballot vote should be contingent upon a vote that would bond the project. General obligation bonds carry the lowest interest rates for government entities, and those are issued based upon a 60% vote from the population.

Vander Molen said that if the vote for bonding the project fails, the money being collected under LOST would then not be able to be allocated towards its designated project. “Then what do you do?” Vander Molen questioned.

“What happens if we approve this local option sales tax in the rural area, but the general obligation bonds aren’t approved?” Asked Vander Molen of the other two supervisors. “I think the language [on the LOST ballot] needs to be contingent upon the approval of the general obligation bonds.”

“I believe, I’ve listened to many different people. It’s hard to discern the will of the people. It’s difficult when you have two sides of it, equally as passionate about an issue. I believe that the obvious choice in this situation is to put it to a vote and allow the people to decide what they spend their money on,” said Doland.

“You put it on the ballot and let the best man win. That’s America,” said Doland. “I think withholding the opportunity for the people to vote on it would be a disservice to the people.”

During the public comment section after the meeting, attendees both thanked the supervisors for their pledge to the project. Other residents questioned the supervisors further about the decision, in particular about interest payments on the proposed 24 million dollar project.

“You don’t know where it’s coming from. You haven’t figured that out yet,” said one rural Mahaska County resident.

Vander Molen, who has been openly defiant towards the project and its use of LOST revenue since the early discussions, again shared his displeasure with the proposed project. “When I ran for supervisor, I was told there was a handful of people in this community that make all the decisions. I didn’t believe those people when I ran, but I do believe them today. It’s pretty clear that when certain people make those decisions, I think, the Oskaloosa City Council says, ‘how high can I jump’ and now we [supervisors] say, ‘how high can we jump’. I think it’s a sad day for the community.”

After the meeting, Vander Molen messaged Oskaloosa News once again stating the need for LOST revenue to go towards county road projects. “7th fatality in 5 months occurred on our County road system on Friday. Unfortunately, the board voted to put pet projects above safety today.”

Posted by on Jan 19 2016. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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