Council candidates talk tax incentives, D&D and city finance

Two candidates vying for the Ward 2 seat on the Newton City Council — Ethan Vaas and Melissa Dalton — shared their thoughts on city finances, economic development and many other topics during a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Jasper County on Oct. 26 at the high school auditorium.

Click here to view the full forum broadcasted by Cardinal TV.

Would you have voted for or against the purchase of the Newton Inn?

In late 2019, the Newton City Council purchased the Newton Inn for about $495,000. Eventually, the dilapidated hotel was demolished for $690,000. Vaas said he would have voted no, but he is in support of cleaning up the town of its dilapidated buildings. However, the city must also be financially responsible.

Vaas claimed there was a chance for a cheaper offer to buy or renovate the building. Instead, he said the city has devoted more than $1 million to demolish the property and has no immediate plans on what will take its place; no plans that city staff have shared publicly, Vaas added.

“This is over $1 million of your tax money,” he said. “Now where are we going to go? What is the investment on it going to be?”

Dalton said something needed to be done at the Newton Inn site. Although she couldn’t speak on all the exact details and did not say how she would vote on the issue, Dalton said she would have asked several questions. She would have tried to explore other options before making the decision.

“Was it great that we spent a million dollars on it when we’ve got other things to do? No, it was wasn’t,” Dalton said. “I can’t speak to what options we had or what options were on the table.”

Do you think the city should take a harder look at its D&D program?

The question submitted to the League of Women Voters of Jasper County claimed the city is simultaneously spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars on bad purchases” and is “rewarding property owners for not maintaining” their properties. Dalton said the city should always assess its programs.

If they worked in the past, she said, it doesn’t mean they’ll work in the future.

“The D&D program is a good program,” Dalton added. “Should we have been in the business of trying to acquire properties in the first place? Probably not. But there was also nothing in place to enforce — or we did not enforce — the laws, the codes to keep these places up.”

Still, Dalton credited the program for what it has done so far in improving curb appeal. In the long-term, she claimed, the city will get better property taxes from a rehabilitated home or business. Dalton said a bulk of the really bad properties have been dealt with. Vaas said the D&D program is a “good intention program.”

Vaas doesn’t want to get rid of the D&D program, but he believes it should be managed more responsibly. He cited a recent house that was purchased for $85,000 by the city for its D&D program. The house will be torn down, he said, so add another $10,000-$15,000 for demolition costs.

With reconstruction costs, too, Vaas questioned the amount of return on the city’s investment.

What is your opinion on the use of tax incentives in economic development?

As a former council member in other cities, Vaas said tax incentives are a very common tool for municipalities to use for economic development purposes. Vaas had event voted for them in the past, so he is not opposed to tax incentives. However, he said it is important for the city to not give everything away.

“I understand Newton has had to rebuild itself after the loss of Maytag. But if you look at the recent projects the city has brought in, the city has been very generous with the tax incentives,” Vaas said. “…So much that these businesses for these projects are paying little to nothing on their taxes for 10 or more years.”

Vaas challenged the audience to ask themselves if they would make a deal requiring them to make an investment but not expect a return for 10 years or more. This is simply just progress with no return, he said. Vaas also criticized the city for giving tax incentives to wealthy individuals like Jack Hatch, who was responsible for renovating Hotel Maytag.

“Is that property bringing in any new tax value? Not for at least 10 years. And after 10 years when they have to start paying those taxes, what’s the possibility they’re going to say, ‘Ope! Sorry! This is no longer economical. We’re leaving. See ya. Bye.’ Then we’re back in the same situation,” Vaas said.

Dalton said there are two sides to this issue. The city should be smart about how it is using these tax incentives, but Newton also needs to entice business owners who bring businesses to town and create jobs for the community. Still, Dalton said the city should take a harder look at it and maybe do a better job.

Not only should the city want to bring these businesses to the community, Dalton said they should bring value to the community as well. The solution may be to hold off on long-term tax incentives and collaborate with these owners to understand why they are needed here. Dalton said she’s not against the tool.

“But it’s just (about) diving deeper and looking at maybe some other ways we can work with these businesses to bring more value to the table,” Dalton said.

How would you address the city’s debt while still maintaining services?

Vaas said the city’s debt “is only getting higher.” The solution? He said the city should do a better job at controlling what it spends. Newton would have more money available if it wasn’t providing 10 years or more of tax rebates, Vaas said. The tax base could grow faster, he claimed, and the city should be smarter when developing its local economy.

“Would I like a brand new truck? Absolutely? But I’m sorry to all the car salesmen, I don’t have as much as I would like to do that. The same comes down to how we run our city’s finances,” Vaas said. “We have to take these things into consideration of what we can afford and look at how much we’re just doing.”

Three organizations are representing downtown businesses, Vaas said, likely referring to the Greater Newton Area Chamber of Commerce, Newton Main Street and Destination Downtown Newton Alliance. Vaas claimed Main Street receives city funding and organizes the farmers market “and maybe one other event” in one year.

“Versus the other one — that is pretty much all volunteer basis — now this year is getting nothing for city funding and yet organizes 12 events a year for downtown businesses,” Vaas said, referring to DDNA and questioned whether providing funding to Main Street is the best use of city money.

Although Main Street does receive city funding, the group does hold more than two events per year, including Shop Small Saturday, a Winter Wonderland Market, shop local small markets, a free holiday movie event, a farm-to-table dinner, pop-up shops, downtown cleanup days and more.

Dalton said she would look at where to save money, perhaps lowering the tax rebates to five, four or even three years. She also asked if the fire department can get another year out of a firetruck before it gets replaced without putting the city or its citizen’s safety at risk.

She also acknowledged there are a lot of things the city can’t cut back from, noting the police and fire departments as the primary example.

“(It’s about) having an understanding of the community and the residents of this town and what’s important to them and where should we be spending these dollars and how best to spend these dollars,” Dalton said. “If we sit down and say this is the budget we have, this is what we have on the table, it’s my job to listen to what you guys are talking about.”

Learn more about city council candidates here:

Melissa Dalton, candidate for Ward 2 on the Newton City Council

1. Introduce yourself and tell us why you want to run for city council.

DALTON: My name is Melissa Dalton and I am running for City Council in Newton Ward 2. I have lived in Newton for over 16 years and am married to Jason Dalton, who was born and raised in Newton. Together we have 7 children, 4 currently enrolled in the Newton School District and my husband and I have owned 2 successful businesses in town for over 15 years.While raising our kids in this community, I have coached soccer, softball, and tumbling. I have volunteered many hours in the school district both inside and outside of the classroom. I was involved on a RAGBRAI committee when they came to town and have been involved in numerous other activities throughout the years. I believe that raising young people to love our town will only help us in the years to come.I am passionate about making Newton a great place to live. My goal is to make this community one that my children want to come back to once out of college to raise their own families. I love Newton’s resiliency and how well we have fought to come back from some hard times through the years and want to help continue to move this town in the right direction. My life is embedded in this community and I want to do my part to help make it the best it can be! I want to be YOUR voice and understand all sides of the issues that come up to make the best decision possible for the residents of Newton. My past work experience, as well as running successful businesses, will help me make the difficult decisions that must be made for Newton’s future.

2. What is one thing you think the city does well? What is one thing the city can improve on?

DALTON: I think the city has made great strides in cleaning up properties, improving curb appeal, and expanding housing. This is critical in order to attract new families and new business to Newton. One thing I believe the city can improve upon is working with local businesses already established in Newton to see how we can help them to take their businesses to the next level. I believe that investing some of our attention to the businesses that have been and will continue to stay in our community is a very important factor in assuring their continued success in their desire to stay in Newton. I understand the need for the city to have a diversified employment pool, both big and small. With the closing of TPI at the end of the year, it is that much clearer we need to bring new businesses to town. By focusing on what we already have established in this community and helping those businesses grow, will help with long term employment for the residents of Newton. I sometimes feel like the small business owners get pushed to the side as the city continues to entice outside businesses to come to Newton. By working together and showing the existing businesses that they matter, will only help attract people to Newton in the future. Another concern of mine is the amount of debt our city has. We have got to start thinking outside the box and come up with ways that we can start decreasing this. I’m ready to begin these discussions and make the necessary difficult decisions in order to put Newton and it’s residents first.

Ethan Vaas, candidate for Ward 2 on the Newton City Council

1. Introduce yourself and tell us why you want to run for city council.

VAAS: I was born and raised in northwest Iowa by Orange City and Sioux Center. I graduated from Central College in 2005. To gain some personal insight on world affairs, I spent a year in China then worked in Texas for another year to gain a foothold with a new start-up business in Hull, Iowa. In Hull, I joined a small but experienced group to build from scratch a new cheese and whey manufacturing facility. Within our first year it became the largest facility of its kind in Iowa, pushing Iowa into the top ten cheese producing states. Today it processes nearly 4 million pounds of milk 7 days a week. While I lived in Hull, I was on the city council for five years. We experienced and dealt with many different matters and it was a good education. In those five years, we gained a long term care facility, a new car wash, a strip mall to house several new small businesses, added a third high school facility, saw the expansion of a few businesses, replaced our outdated pool with a larger aquatic center and filled a new housing development. I watched one Saturday our city office burn down and saw the new, larger city office built to completion. Only once did we raise taxes in my five years and that was solely to pay for our new aquatic center and everyone was aware of it. I was also actively involved in the Hull Chamber of Commerce and helped at every event we organized. For the past 12 years I have worked in Human Resources and deal with a wide variety of issues like staffing, budgets, policy development and enforcement. Just one day this week I conducted three job interviews with candidates. My decisions will obviously have a direct impact on these individuals and I have to be comfortable with my decision. Seldom do I get to make a decision, nor do I remember the last time making a decision, that made everyone happy. I feel the combination of my city council experience and human resource career make me an ideal candidate for city council. Given everything Newton is currently facing, I believe Newton will benefit by having as much experience as possible on the council.

2. What is one thing you think the city does well? What is one thing the city can improve on?

VAAS: My family and I moved to Newton in 2018. I’ve spent the last few years listening to what people have to say about the community. I’ve learned many things but one of the largest concerns is the fact the city has accumulated over $30 million in debt. Compare that to Jasper county’s approximately $9 million of debt with twice the population and Newton’s debt level looks extreme. The city is also VERY generous with the tax incentives it offers to draw in new business. So generous these new projects produce very little return on investment, if any, for a long number of years. One example is Hardee’s. The city purchased the lot for $550,000, then paid more to have the existing structure removed. It sold the lot to Hardee’s for $80,000. Over the last five years the property tax generated off that lot has steadily decreased! In FY2016 Newton received $9,674. In FY2020 Newton will receive $2,688. (source: Schneider Beacon) Is this the kind of return us residents deserve on an investment of $470,000 made with our tax dollars? And how many new residents or businesses will be drawn to Newton because we have a Hardee’s? This “progress with no return” needs to stop. Newton has to be proactive in its economic development but we need to make smarter decisions with our dollars, if we are to reduce our debt and prosper as a community.

On a positive note, my family and I do enjoy the large number of parks throughout town. My kids even have some nicknames for a couple of them. The range of amenities in our parks is wide and attractive to many different age groups. In September I attended a city council meeting and the Parks & Recreation Department gave a presentation showing Newton has more park space than similar communities. I would like to see continued investment in our park system, especially in Agnes Patterson. I feel those soccer and softball fields are somewhat underutilized and could be used to host traveling youth teams, which could in turn drive traffic to our hotels and restaurants.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com