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Editorial: Use savings to keep this promise
Op-Ed · April 17, 2024
With a small fraction of its savings, the City of West Branch can keep a promise to homeowners who moved here in good faith.
And preserve its credibility.
Even though the West Branch City Council last month ended the Building Incentive Tax Rebate program, there is hope that the program may return just long enough for the city to fulfill its promise.
Among other things, the program “promised” — the city’s term — up to $5,000 in tax rebates, spread over five to seven years, for families who built new homes in town. And, to the great joy of city leaders, it worked: 123 new homes sprouted up since 2015.
But, due in large part to inflation, projected tax revenues for 2024-25 may not grow enough to cover the cost of expenses, even with budget cuts. Reluctantly, the council voted 3-2 on March 4 to end the program.
Yet councilmember Mike Horihan at the April 1 meeting directed city staff to look again at the possibility of finding the money elsewhere. Councilmember Tom Dean agreed: “I haven’t felt good about that vote, and if there’s any way to do something …”
Horihan’s idea: Dip into savings.
This is a worthy idea. When the city wanted to jumpstart its police recruitment efforts last August, City Administrator Adam Kofoed found $4.7 million in unspent funds in various line items.
Every city wants to build up its rainy day funds, reduce borrowing for capital improvement projects, and other good things that give it a healthy financial footing. But what about using the money to keep a promise, especially when keeping that promise strengthens relationships with its citizens?
The city stopped accepting new homes into the program on June 31, 2023. Some 29 homeowners got in before that deadline and all received at least one year’s worth of rebates, but ending the program left them asking questions. To revive the program for those 29 homeowners, the city needs, at most, $116,000; likely, that number is much less.
That means the city needs less than 3 percent of its savings to satisfy this commitment.
To us, that’s a good deal.
Fulfilling this promise to new residents will show that the City of West Branch appreciates the people who come here and stay here. It will show potential business owners that the local government deals in good faith. And it will encourage the city as a whole to continue to thrive.
We would support the city council’s efforts to tap its savings for a relatively small expense for a big payoff: Integrity.
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