Committee approves Field of Dreams sales tax rebate

DES MOINES - A bill offering a sales tax rebate to a company planning a $38 million investment in the Field of Dreams managed to stay in the game Wednesday.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved the bill 19-6 and sent it to the full chamber for consideration.

The bill authorizes the Iowa Department of Revenue to rebate sales tax collected by retailers on purchases made at a baseball and softball tournament facility and movie site.

Go the Distance Baseball LLC has plans to develop the 193-acre Field of Dreams site near Dyersville as a $38.4 million youth baseball and softball complex with 24 fields, dormitories and other amenities.

The project is projected to create 506 jobs and generate $47 million in economic activity via tourism spending at restaurants, hotels and other spinoff retail activity.

Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, voted against the bill because of concerns about the precedent it sets.

Although the bill's language is crafted to apply only to the Dyersville project, Jacoby said he worries its approval is likely to encourage others to ask for similar rebates.

Chairman Tom Sands, R-Wapello, voiced similar concerns, asking whether future projects will bypass the state Economic Development Authority and come directly to the Legislature. Lawmakers, he said, aren't necessarily qualified or provided with the right information to make those decisions.

If the Legislature had continued the Grow Iowa Values Fund “we wouldn't have to be voting on this, picking winners and losers,” Jacoby said. “It would go through the process through the economic development board and be judged on the viability of the project.”

A Senate companion bill has been approved by the Economic Growth Committee and referred to Ways and Means.