New London takes a serious look at housing

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? In small communities, there is a direct connection between the health of the school district and the health of the city.

In communities like New London, in order for the district to survive and thrive, it needs a bustling population.

That?s why members of the New London School Board appeared at the New London City Council meeting Tuesday night, to speak to the council concerning the need of affordable housing within the city.

?I would hope everyone in this room, in particular the city council, would realize the health of our community is directly tied to the health of our school district,? said New London Superintendent Steve McAllister. ?As we look around southeast Iowa, there are school districts that have closed and are in the process of closing and there are some districts that are experiencing some very difficult financial struggles.?

McAllister said while New London Community School District does not fall into either of those categories, the district is feeling the burden of a decreased population.

?As you all know, the bottom financial line for school districts is controlled by one thing and pretty much one thing only and that is by the number of students we have,? said McAllister.

McAllister went back and looked at the past budgets to get a sense of enrollment. School districts receive monies based on certified enrollment. ?In 2004, when we developed the budget, we developed it on the certified enrollment of 579.5 students. In a couple of weeks, the board will act on a proposed budget and set a tax levy and hearing of a new budget and it will be based on certified enrollment by the state of 498.6 students,? he said. ?Between the 2004 and the 2017 budget cycle, we?re talking about (losing) $540,000 (due to decreased enrollment), that?s a significant amount of money.?

McAllister said he has heard time and time again from parents that they would love to enroll their students at New London, but they are unable to find housing.

?We ask the council to look to the future and be proactive for new and affordable housing,? he added.

Once again, the agenda featured an item regarding the discussion of developing residential housing on South Pine Street. This item has frequented the agenda, not only for the past several months, but has been discussed again and again over the course of the past several years.

In January, the council shied away from making any decisions on developing South Pine Street, as several members of the council felt it would be too risky and feared creating a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district would divert money away from taxes collected and used for the school district. Instead, the council decided to look into costs of extending utility services to Adams Street, where three houses could be built.

When asked what exactly a TIF is, City Project Engineer Matt Walker said right now, the land at South Pine Street is zoned agricultural and receiving a tax rate of, for simple terms, $1,000 assessed value. ?Once you make an improvement, the city would borrow money from a bank and then the land is developed so it?s worth $100,000. The city, county and school board get the taxes from the $1,000 distributed how it is now. The $99,000 improvement goes to the city to pay off the loan,? he explained.

McAllister added that a TIF district tends to get a bad rap. He stated that even though the district might not be getting as much from taxes, the state does have a rollback program to receive more money. However, he said hopefully, if a subdivision were developed, a family with children would move into the home. Once in school, the district would receive state monies for the children.

Councilman Kirk Miller said he felt the costs to develop infrastructure on Adams Street was too steep for three houses (it was estimated at $80,000 for sewer hookups) and that city funds would be better spent on the previously mentioned project.

?Denny (Bozarth, public works director) and I were cleaning out some drawers and we found a 1997 study done by Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission talking about the same things we?re talking about today. In 20 years we?ve done nothing. We?re still talking about the same issues,? said Miller.

Miller, who has been an advocate for developing the area at South Pine Street, said the city is in a unique situation now in that it owns approximately 30 acres of ground and is receiving a new fuel tax that can be used on building roads to the prospective development.

Miller added the city has approximately $33,000 that is not earmarked for anything, that would be enough to make the annual TIF loan payment. Miller continued by saying he knew of at least three people who would build in the area, one being a developer.

Lindsay Porter, school board president, said she knew the houses built on Dover Circle were sold before they were built; they were in such high demand.

Council members Tom Davis and Greg Malott were both uneasy with diving into a project as big as South Pine Street. The city engineer has estimated about 14 lots could be developed within a subdivision in the aforementioned area.

?The reality of the economy is, if it was such a great place to build houses, why are they wanting to step on the back of the city to pay for infrastructure and to develop property. Why don?t they buy the property from us and develop it themselves,? asked Matlott.

The question from an audience member was if the city creates a TIF district and pays to put in the infrastructure and it all falls through, whom would it fall on? Who will be financial responsible?

?We?ve been talking about this the four out of the five years I?ve been here (on the council) and we?ve never made a decision. I think it?s time we take care of our community. The decisions we make directly affect our school system, our preschool, which directly affects everyone in town,? said Miller.

Malott stated that half of the board has been split on this decision, and the public opinion they had heard during the meeting was also mixed, he felt the subdivision should be decided by a public vote. ?We need something to resolve the impasse we?re at. Either we have the opinion of our constituents saying yes, we move forward or we have a majority group saying they don?t want to take the risk,? said Malott.

Councilman Dan Berner said the city would need to survey the area in order to have the most accurate estimate before taking it to a vote. ?I want us to understand as a council, there are going to be some upfront costs to even prepare for a bond issue,? said Berner.

Berner made a motion to have the area surveyed, have an estimate worked up as well as find out the costs to hold an election for the issue.

The council approved the motion.

School board member Jesse Howard stood up to say that New London has a lot to offer and he hopes the board will continue in this direction.?We need people here, somebody has to take a risk,? he said. ?At some point, somebody took the risk and planted a tree and now we have the shade. Somebody took the opportunity to build a house so we can all be citizens of New London.?

For more stories from the New London City Council, check out Thursday?s issue of The News.