Some quotes from the joint Iowa City-Coralville-North Liberty-Board of Supervisors-School Board Meeting:
Several officials at the meeting said they are in favor of the "shared penny" option, in which the school district would share revenue with another government such as Iowa City or Johnson County.
Iowa City Councilor Connie Champion said the city could use the money for additions to its infrastructure, such as additional staffing for the fire department.
"Iowa City desperately needs another stream of income," Iowa City Councilor Bob Elliott said.
The money would benefit the schools by bringing in money for building and technology needs.
"I thought this was a very necessary discussion," said Elliott after the meeting. "I would not like to see the rest of the money go out of the county."
Although many voiced approval of the shared penny option, Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan said he is concerned with the fact that the tax is regressive.
A regressive tax, often a fixed rate, takes a harder hit on people with lower incomes since it is a larger percentage of their income.
"We've got a lot of people in this county with serious needs," he said. "(More than) 70 percent of the poor people are kids. ... They are the ones getting hurt the most."
This is colloquially know as the "mega-meeting." Reminds me of the tradition at the State Of The Union address where they leave the junior cabinet official out in case, uh, the bad guys attack. Anyway, kudos to Rod for taking the lead on this one.
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