Iowa City Council Candidates Talk TIF to Build Downtown

Just as neighboring Coralville has come under fire for overuse of tax increment financing, some candidates vying for  in Iowa City on Friday spoke in favor of using tax incentives to build up downtown.

“When you do a TIF, you put a lot of people to work,” said Steve Soboroff, who owns KCJJ-AM radio station in Coralville and is a candidate for the district A seat with physician Rick Dobyns. “If we don’t want to do things like that in Iowa City, consider doing it partly.”

The comments came during a candidate forum hosted by the Downtown Association and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. There was full participation from all candidates, including four candidates seeking two at-large seats: Mayor , business owner , student Raj Patel, , a professional at MidAmerican Energy; Dobyns and Soboroff; and retired professor , who is running unopposed for the district C seat.

, who recently put his schooling at the  on hold to run for one of two at-large seats, said too many obstacles exist that are barriers to new business in Iowa City. He identified TIF as one of the solutions the city should consider.

“The process from planning to construction must be expedited. It hinders progress in Iowa City,” Patel said. “Coralville can get a project done in a few weeks that takes a year in Iowa City.”

The forum was set in the food court of the . At least 50 people sat down to listen, but dozens more stopped by to take in portions of the forum as they passed through the mall. 

Soboroff said rhetoric should be toned down between Iowa City and Coralville, and moderator Mark Ginsberg, of , made a point to say, "downtown is not at war with Coralville."

At issue is Coralville's use of TIF money to help bring from in Iowa City to Coralville, and some frustrations clearly exist.

Throgmorton called it "inappropriate" that benefits of Coralville's TIF aren't shared with schools, the county and other communities.

"I don’t condemn them. I am not at war with them. But, I do think things should be done," he said.

Another topic addressed was the controversial 21-only law that bans those underage from bars after 10 p.m.

None of the candidates, including Patel, who was a leader in the campaign against the ordinance last year, said they wanted to repeal the law if elected.

And, on another controversial topic, most of the candidates backed the self-supported municipal improvement district or , which would tax downtown property owners with profits used to support the district. Mitchell expressed some concern with the proposal.