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Touring WB winery, Northey hears about property taxes
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · April 16, 2015
“Commercial property taxes are a killer,” Brick Arch Winery co-owner John McNutt told Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey last week.
Northey stopped in West Branch April 9 to tour the winery and its production facility on the east side of Iowa City, asking McNutt and wife/co-owner Ilene Lande their particular stories about how they got into the business.
Near the end of the tour, while at the production facility, the subject changed to Iowa’s wine industry and running a small business.
“(Commercial property taxes) push rents up,” McNutt said, though noting the winery owns its West Branch property. “(About) 8 to 9 percent of our gross goes to pay property taxes. It’s really damaged small towns in Iowa.”
Northey said he understands the challenge for small businesses in small towns.
“In Iowa City you would pay twice that, but 10 times as many people drive by (a business),” he said.
McNutt, whose day job involves financial consulting for farmers, said he understands governments need for money, especially the counties, though he said he did not want to take too much of Northey’s time during his tour.
“But I’d love to discuss how we could revitalize small, rural America by changing the property tax,” he said.
Northey’s tour of the two locations included questions specific to McNutt and Lande’s business, but also about wine-making in general. With his smartphone, he took several pictures of the interior of the West Branch tasting room and the Iowa City production facility.
Answering the Secretary’s questions, the couple said the winery can host events of around 150 people. They talked about the West Branch High School football team’s recent trivia night, a sorority group and members’ mothers coming with more than 110, and how on May 6 they will welcome upward of 140 to 150 for a daylong meeting of the Eastern Iowa Tourism Association.
“It’s a chance to have the city sell itself” on what it offers tourists, Lande said of why they lobbied to host the quarterly meeting.
Lande said the winery serves food on occasion, which prompted Northey to ask about other restaurants in the area. The couple listed off the variety of food served at local eateries, like pizza, Mexican and American.
“So you’re a good fit for what’s needed,” he responded. “And you’re certainly a destination place.”
Nathan Katzer, special assistant to the secretary who accompanied Northey on the tour, called the wine business a “maturing industry” in Iowa.
“Grapes are indigenous to Iowa, but not wine-making grapes,” he said.
The couple invited Northey to bring his family back to West Branch to enjoy a meal and music at the Brick Arch.
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