Landlords of Linn County
PO Box 202
Marion, IA 52302
HF 2323, our bill which expands utility lien protections, was enrolled and sent to Governor Branstad yesterday. I have visited with the Governor’s lobbyist about HF 2323. We’re not expecting any problems. The Governor has 3 days to deal with the bill. We expect him to sign it. It will happen yet this week.
From Joe Kelly.
Here is a copy of the bill as it looks in enrolled form.
From Representative Nick Wagner’s March 15, 2012 Newsletter.
Several people and employers have contacted me concerning their recent property valuations. Many are concerned about the substantial increases that they received and have asked what can be done. There is a process by which you can appeal your property tax assessment to get it reduced. This can help keep property valuations at the right level. I find it odd that the same people who collect property tax revenue based on a valuation also set that very same valuation. I think we could reform this process and it would result in more equitable outcomes.
A property owner or taxpayer who is dissatisfied with the owner’s or taxpayer’s assessment may file a written protest against the assessment with the local board of review between April 16 and May 5 of the year of the assessment that is being protested. Also, any local government official or a taxpayer of the political subdivision where the property is located may file a protest to an assessment of property in the same manner as a protest by the owner or taxpayer of the property.
The grounds for a protest must be one or more of the following:
• The assessment is not equitable compared with assessments of other like property in the taxing district.
• The property is assessed at more than its actual value.
• The property is not assessable, is exempt from taxes, or is misclassified.
• There is an error in the assessment.
• There is fraud in the assessment.
The Marion Chamber of Commerce and the Marion Economic Development Company are hosting an educational forum to learn more about the process of how to appeal recent property tax assessments with the Linn County Assessor at 1:00pm, Monday, March 19 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 8300 C Avenue in Marion. Local business owner Keith Smith will be leading the discussion. There is no cost to attend and no RSVP is necessary. If you do attend please park in the north parking lot and the meeting will be held in the Life Worship Center. (This is an auditorium with theater seating.)
The municipal utilities are making a late attempt to defeat HF 2323, the city enterprise services bill. Attached is a revised information sheet on the bill. I’ve made one change to counter an argument the municipal utilities are using. They are complaining that they will have difficulty indentifying the user of the enterprise services. Their first hope is to kill the bill. Their second objective is to keep the requirement that landlords have to notify the municipal utility each time a tenancy changes. The reason for that objective is they know most landlords won’t do the notification in a timely manner, if at all.
Some of you have asked me what do we do know. The answer is to make your contacts with your Iowa Senator, either the Senator whose district you live in, or the Senator who represents a district where you own some properties. Some of you will have more than one Senator that you can contact.
Ask for their support of HF 2323.
Joe
There are only two bills on the Senate daily debate calendar today, and SF 2300 is not one of them. Therefore, SF 2300 is now dead for the year.
Let’s make the final push this morning! If you have one of the Senators in your district that is on the Local Government committee, please call them this morning to support HF2323.
[private]Here is the list of Senators on the Local Government Committee. Senators Wilhelm, Bartz, and Bowman were the subcommittee members. The rest of the list are open game for your calls!
TALKING POINTS FOR: HF 2323 City Enterprise Services
HF 2323 is the same language that was in HF 783 from 2007.
HF 2323 does the following:
Governor Culver vetoed HF 783, citing the security deposits granted for the extra city enterprise services.
Since landlords believe that city enterprise services should be managed like a business, we believe that municipal utilities must have the option for a security deposit. A 90 days’ deposit was suggested because some municipal utilities need this amount of time in that they bill only on a quarterly basis.
If the law does not provide for a security deposit for municipal utilities, then all taxpayers would have to pick up the tab for delinquent renters. We don’t believe this is good public policy.
Landlords believe it is good public policy to require residents, including renters, to be responsible for their usage of city enterprise services.
The legislature in 2007 agreed. HF 783 was voted on twice in the House. Each time in the House, no Representative voted against the bill. The first vote was 98-0. The Senate passed the bill with an amendment. The vote was 48-2. When the House voted again, the vote was 94-0.
HF 2323 passed the House 97-0 on March 7, 2012.[/private]
1. HF 2323, the city enterprise bill, is on tomorrow’s House debate calendar. Every indication is that the bill is in good shape and should pass.
2. Senator Danielson is holding another meeting on SF 2300, the occupancy bill, tomorrow. I had a chat with Senator Danielson this afternoon. He moved SF 2300 through the Senate State Government Committee. He did that in order to keep it alive so that there would be a chance to have more discussions about the bill. One possible result of tomorrow’s meeting is that Senator Danielson will have me show him proof that we have a minimum of 26 positive votes for the bill before he brings it up. This is not an unusual request for a controversial bill. It would be even better to have about 30 votes because Senators do sometimes change their minds.
3. If we are facing a scenario of proving votes, we need to get our work done as quickly as possible. Therefore, I’m asking you to do the following:
Either phone (515-281-3371) or e-mail your Iowa Senator and ask him/her the following: If Senate File 2300 were up for a vote on the floor of the Senate today, how would you vote, yes or no? If you get a definitive answer either way, let me know. It will save me time. I will be canvassing Senators myself, but if I get a definitive answer from you about a Senator, I won’t have to contact that Senator.
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/senate.aspx
4. Let’s get started.
If you get your Senator on the phone, be prepared to tell your Senator what SF 2300 is about. They have scores of bills they’re dealing with and don’t always know them by number. If you send an e-mail, they obviously can look it up. But, even in an e-mail, you would take the opportunity to point out why you think SF 2300 is so important to pass. Then you would ask your Senator the question of how he/she would vote if SF 2300 were up for a vote on the floor.
SSB 3090 is now SF 2300. For those of you who have contacted your Senators asking for support of SSB 3090, you can now send an e-mail pointing out that SSB 3090 is now SF 2300. It gives you a chance to mention the need for this bill again. If you determine that your Senator is supportive, you could ask your Senator to relay that message of support to Senator Jeff Danielson. When Senator Danielson gets both Democrats and Republicans coming to him stating their support for the bill, it can have an impact.
If you haven’t made your contact yet, what are you waiting for? I’m watching the city lobbyists working against SF 2300. We’re going to need everyone’s help to get this bill moving. SF 2300 is on the Senate debate calendar. Not all the bills on the Senate debate calendar are going to get debated. We’re competing with the other bills for floor time.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=Billbook&menu=false&hbill=sf2300
Legislative Update from Joe Kelly
Rep. Jeff Kaufmann is going to file the bill at 4:30 on Monday afternoon. This action gives you more time to contact Iowa House members for co-sponsorship. Hats off to the Pott County group who have both of their House members signed up as co-sponsors.
In summary, the bill will change the current law so that you would only have to register your property once with the municipal utility. You would not have to notify the utility each time a tenancy changes. And the bill would add other city enterprise services to the lien protection provisions of the law: sewerage, water runoff, trash collection fees, etc.
We need a big push between now and late Monday afternoon. The e-mail address for your House members is as follows: first name, followed by a period (.) last name, @legis.state.ia.us……like jeff.kaufmann@legis.state.ia.us
The phone number for the House members is 515-281-3221.
The Governor’s bill is different from the House Republican bill, HSB 500. Both bills will be passed out of the House Ways & Means Committee. Obviously, at some point in the near future, the Governor and the House Republicans will have to come to an agreement on which bill to propose to the Senate, or some version of the two bills.
Governor Branstad’s bill calls for a 40% reduction for commercial property taxpayers over an 8 year period. That’s 5% a year, compared to the 2.85% in HSB 500. HSB 519 guarantees the first three years of the plan. There are some scenarios where the cuts could be stopped if certain economic growth goals aren’t met. The Governor’s advisors don’t expect the stoppage to happen, since the growth goals are reasonable and fair.
On November 8th, is the regular City Elections where the council and mayor positions maybe up for re-election. Now is the time to engage these candidates so that you maybe in a better position to call on them for support when they are elected to office.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?
• Take every opportunity you have to meet the candidates and talk with them.
• Pick a candidate that best fits your positions and support them
• Make sure they know you support them – remind them every time you see them.
• Let them know you are affiliated with the “Landlords of Linn County”
• Remind them that you will be calling on them when they get [re-]elected.
WHAT DO THE CANDIDATES NEED FROM YOU?
• They want your support
• They want their sign on in every yard in their district (How many rental properties do you have in their district?)
• They want to know what your interests are (“Landlords of Linn County”)
• They want you to vote for them
WHAT HAVE I DONE IN THE LAST COUPLE WEEKS?
• Visited the campaign office of the candidates in some cases multiple times
• Participated in public forums
• Talked with the candidate each time – reminded them of who I was and my affiliation with the “Landlords of Linn County”
• Let them know that I would be contact them after the election about some important topics.
• Talked with local council people (some not even in my district) about important Landlord topics.
WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE FUTURE?
• When an important agenda item comes before the elected official you supported, you will contact them and let them know your position
• You will also remind them that you are affiliated with the “Landlords of Linn County”
Keith Smith
President, Landlords of Iowa
Board Member, Landlords of Linn County
Clarence Smith and a co-worker are looking for a short-term, furnished rental. They will be working in Cedar Rapids for about a month starting quite soon. They work on software/internet and will be installing systems in CR fire stations. They are looking for a two-bedroom unit available as soon as Sept 26. Clarence’s contact info is: 561-994-5642, smith234@att.net
(no relation to us–just a phone call that came in requesting help finding living arrangements)
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