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First of all, I am personally against having a Data Center in Marshalltown or Marshall County for numerous reasons. Having said that, I believe city officials will try to ram this down our throats against the will of the majority, no matter what.
So I have a proposal.
If city officials are bent on having a Data Center, which they say may generate $3.5 million annually in new tax revenue, how about the good citizens of Marshalltown demand that for at least 20 years, every penny of tax money generated from ‘a Data Center’ goes to paying down our current $80 million outstanding debt. Maybe that will get more citizens on board with this extremely controversial issue.
That means the city does not spend one penny of this new found money on rainbows, unicorns, bike paths, putting lipstick on a pig or any other pet projects. None. They will use 100% of this new money to pay down debt every year for 20 years. If that were to be mandated and become law, it would still take over 20 years to pay off our current outstanding $80 million debt, and does not include paying down any new future debt.
As of today, every man, woman and child living in Marshalltown owns nearly $3000 of debt with no end in sight. If our City Administrator has a better and faster way for Marshalltown to pay off $80 million of debt, please do tell. I would love to hear her plan, if she even has one.
Jeff Harris