Tuesday, March 5 is an important day for our community and future. You are being asked to decide two ballot measures, renewal of the Local Options Sales & Service Tax (LOSST) and Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL). I would like to commend both the City and School District on their outreach efforts to educate and inform all citizens.

Newsprint, radio interviews, community presentation and Q&A, Facebook posts, fliers and information on the respective websites were all means of connecting with the public on these topics. If none of those efforts were successful in reaching you, but this article does, I encourage you to go to the City of Marshalltown and Marshalltown Community School District websites to find the information you need to be informed ahead of Tuesday or reach out to any of us elected officials.

The renewal of the Local Options Sales & Service Tax (LOSST) will take effect July 1, 2025 if passed and will continue what the voters in Marshalltown have approved since 2000 – some communities in Iowa go all the way back to 1986. While this is an extremely important ballot measure, it is not a controversial measure that some have made it out to be. I would like to highlight some of the comments told to me directly or that I have heard from others:

“It would be cheaper to simply pay the $392 increase in property taxes on $100,000 property valuation than approve the renewal of LOSST” While there are a lot of variables to evaluate in this comment such as the actual valuation of your home and your annual expenditures on LOSST eligible sales within Marshalltown – the simple fact is $392 equates to $39,200 in purchases. If your home is worth $200,000, your breakeven point raises to $78,400. This approach also bears the entire amount on your property tax. Utilizing LOSST, people from outside our community are contributing to property tax relief for you.

“I would support this if the percent allocation to property tax relief stayed at 78 percent, not the proposed 75 percent.” City staff and Council deliberated this allocation extensively and also benchmarked ourselves against other communities. For quick reference, the following communities allocate the stated percentages to property tax relief – Des Moines 50 percent, Ames 60 percent, Mason City 50 percent, Waterloo 0 percent, Fort Dodge 0 percent, Ottumwa 10 percent. Councils all the way back to 2000 have prioritized property tax relief and this continues that same commitment. What the reduction in percentage does is allow a little more flexibility for the City to address changes like those we are navigating from the state house regarding library funding as example (HF 718). Additionally, looking back at the past five fiscal years, Council has allocated 81% of LOSST to property tax relief – greater than what is obligated. The proposed 75% is the minimum allocation amount. Based on expected LOSST revenue, the 3% allocation change equates to $120,000 annually.

“Since there is no longer a sunset date on LOSST, we should not support the renewal.” On the surface I can accept this potential concern, but I’m not sure how much water it holds with deeper thought? Does this argument mean property tax relief will no longer be needed or not important in 10, 20 or 30 years? I suspect the answer is a resounding no. What I can accurately state for the future, any proposed changes to the current ballot proposal would require a vote by you. Example, if a future council wants to change the allocation to 50 percent property tax relief, 50 percent any legal purpose, it will need to be approved via vote by the majority of Marshalltown residents.

We as elected officials along with our very dedicated City staff work each day to provide you with the services deserving of your tax dollars and those befitting the 16th largest city in the state. Your ‘yes’ vote on the Local Option Sales & Service Tax will provide property tax relief and funding for community betterment projects into the future. I hope you will join me in voting YES on March 5.

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Barry Kell is an at-large Marshalltown city councilor.