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Landlords of Linn County
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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.
- HF 2323, the city enterprises bill, is on the agenda for the Senate Local Government Committee today at 1:00 p.m. We know that the 3 subcommittee members voted for the bill. We need 3 more committee votes to get the 6 votes necessary to get out of the committee and stay alive for the session.
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!
Senate Members
- Mary Jo Wilhelm (D, District 8), Chair
- Daryl Beall (D, District 25), Vice Chair
- Merlin Bartz (R, District 6), Ranking Member
- Robert Bacon (R, District 5)
- Tod Bowman (D, District 13)
- Thomas G. Courtney (D, District 44)
- Joni Ernst (R, District 48)
- Shawn Hamerlinck (R, District 42)
- Herman C. Quirmbach (D, District 23)
- Tom Rielly (D, District 38)
- Brian Schoenjahn (D, District 12)
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:
- It changes the registration of tenancy in the code (384.84 [4][d]) with a one time registration of the property. If the property is registered with the city utility, the landlord would not be responsible for paying the tenant’s bills and the property could not be subject to liens by the city.
- HF 2323 also expands the list of protected city enterprise services in the code from water to all pertinent city enterprise services such as sewer systems, storm water drainage systems, sewage treatment, and solid waste collection.
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.
Please register for our January meeting. We will be having a problem solving meeting for landlords where you can bring your questions and we can find the answers for you. Dinner is $13.00 per person and will be Pork Chops, mixed veggies, potatoes and rolls.
To register for the January meeting click here: http://landlordsoflinncounty.org/event-registration/?ee=16
Congratulations to our 2012 elected Landlords of Linn County Board Members
by barbkintzle
December
10th,
2011
Laura O’Leary
Kim Fredrickson
Bob Mitchell
Garry Grimm
Dick Rehman
Barbara Kintzle
Keith Smith
Michele Formanek
Kim Gordon
Bob Randklev
House, Senate, governor agree change is needed, but their proposals differ
Property tax reform, which Iowa lawmakers failed to achieve earlier this year, will be a top priority in the legislative session that begins next month, House and Senate leaders told a group of business people Tuesday.
The Republican House, the Democratic Senate and Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration all agree that relief must be provided to commercial property owners, House Speaker Kraig Paulsen and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal told a crowd over lunch at the Iowa Taxpayers Association’s annual meeting in West Des Moines.
“From an institutional level, this is the first time … that you have the House, the Senate and the governor’s office all interested in addressing the issue at the same time,” Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said. “That’s never happened before.”
All the reform efforts focus primarily on commercial property, which is currently taxed on 100 percent of its assessed valuation — a rate substantially higher than that of residential and agricultural property in Iowa and higher than commercial rates in nearby states.
Still, the proposals developed by the House and Senate diverge substantially in how the tax cut would be structured and paid for.
House Republicans want to reduce the percentage of valuation on which all commercial and industrial properties are taxed, and to limit the increases in tax rates that local governments — including school districts — can pursue in a given year, said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Thomas Sands, R-Wapello.
The cost to local governments of such reductions and limitations to their tax base would be offset by revenue growth that will occur for other reasons — but not through state assistance, he said.
The Democratic proposal, meanwhile, would cut taxes for all commercial properties but offer bigger reductions for smaller and, ostensibly, locally based businesses, said Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Joe Bolkcom.
“We love Wal-Mart, we love Menards and we love Best Buy, but simply sending tens of millions of dollars to their out-of-state headquarters doesn’t do much for the schools, doesn’t do much to maintain our roads and the local services we all depend on,” Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said. “We make a choice here to focus on small, Main Street businesses.”
The cost to local governments of the reduction would be offset with state funds, which Bolkcom and Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, argue are available.
During the last session, Branstad, a Republican, pushed lawmakers to drop the level at which commercial property is taxed to 60 percent of assessed valuation over five years, at a cost of $200 million per year.
Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said Tuesday the governor is meeting with state and local officials on the issue, but has not yet developed a proposal for the coming session. Nonetheless, it’s a top concern.
“This will be, along with education reform, the single top priority for the governor this upcoming legislative session,” Albrecht said. “Any property tax reform will have to reduce property taxes on Iowa’s job creators, and it must be a permanent solution.”
In addition to education reforms, legislative leaders said they would focus on economic development proposals and increased scrutiny on tax increment financing, a technique used by cities to develop or redevelop certain districts. Increased tax revenues in a district are used to pay for public improvements such as streets and sewers.
They’re new proposed housing rules meant to stop discrimination. But Cedar Rapids landlords and realtors say they’re bad for business.
The rules protect people looking for housing from being turned away because of a whole list of things, like race or religion. The landlords and realtors who packed city hall Tuesday night had no problem with any of those ideas. But the law also adds a new group to be protected based on how they’ll pay the rent or mortgage and that’s causing some concerns.
Realtors and landlords came out by the dozens to Tuesday’s city council meeting, hoping to stop a new rule against housing discrimination.
“It’s all about property rights, a seller should have the right to sell a property in the manner that they want to,” says Cedar Rapids realtor and landlord Sheryl Jahnel.
There’s just one piece of the Civil Rights Commissions’ proposals that’s causing some controversy. It would stop landlords and realtors from turning renters and buyers away based on something called ‘lawful source of income,’ that’s how someone plans to pay the rent or mortgage, through things like social security, child support, or alimony. Those are sources that some realtors say are less reliable than cash.
“It’s not that people want to exclude necessarily, I think it’s an issue of what’s the risk, and if the risk is too great then I need to move on,” says Cedar Rapids landlord Mari Davis.
City council members weren’t convinced there have been enough complaints to even warrant the new law.
“If we start making rules just because there’s a concern there could be a problem, my god I’ll be back in the Air Force again,” says Cedar Rapids City Council Member Chuck Wieneke.
But after four years of research, the Civil Rights Commission disagrees.
“We’ve talked to enough people that certainly feel they’re being shut out right away when they mention a certain way of paying for rentals specifically,” says Karl Cassell, Executive Director of the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission.
Either way the council’s directions were clear.
“Go back and remove the ‘lawful source of income,’” says Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett.
“Our only issue is making sure people are being treated fair,” says Cassell. Now he just hopes that will still happen.
Originally folks using Section 8 vouchers were protected under these rules too. But that was even more controversial, and the Civil Rights Commission cut that out before it ever hit the council chambers.
The Commission emphasized Tuesday night their rules wouldn’t force anyone to rent or sell to these protected folks, you just can’t shut them out automatically. But it doesn’t look like those rules will make it into law.
Tuesday, December 6 2011, 10:51 PM CST
CBS 2 Local News
Remember to register here: http://landlordsoflinncounty.org/?ee=15
Deadline for registration is Dec 2nd
It’s a great night for networking and celebrating the holidays
The Landlords of Iowa 4th quarter 2011 newsletter is available for download here:
Landlords of Iowa 4th Quarter 2011You can download a copy of the Cedar Rapids Section 8 Housing Newsletter here:
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