(Greenfield) Greenfield District #20 State House Representative Ray Sorensen says a bill run through the education committee, if passed, would have a positive effect on schools located in an Urban Revitalization Zone.
Sorensen says currently in Iowa, as we see more and more wind energy, we are also seeing more and more Tax Increment Financing involving these wind projects. He says TIFF allows a county or city to capture all of the property taxes from a particular area, earmarked for development and infrastructure within that area. Money flowed to the school for their share of the state cost per pupil is instead rerouted to counties and cities. The State is required to backfill the schools. This backfill has grown to over $70 million in recent years. The TIFF districts intended to help cities and counties offset the cost of infrastructure for development or redevelopment areas. These areas are called Urban Revitalization Zones. What we have seen with these wind turbine areas is the money is being taken from schools and other taxing entities, not for “urban revitalization,” but instead to be used by counties for other projects in other parts of the counties and the Iowa taxpayers as a whole are paying for it.
Sorensen says Rep. Hite’s bill says that if a city or county wants to create an Urban Revitalization Zone which includes wind turbines. They can, but the schools will keep their money, and therefore the State will not have to backfill these districts. This bill would help keep the state budget in check.
