Coralville candidates tackle issues tied to Von Maur deal

CORALVILLE — Candidates for city office in Coralville addressed tax increment financing and cross-city relationships — two big issues between Coralville and Iowa City of late — at a forum Monday night.

The three City Council and two mayoral candidates for the Nov. 8 election all expressed support for using tax increment financing, or TIF, on projects, although two candidates said they were looking for a more restrictive approach from the city.

And a few said relationships with surrounding communities need to improve.

That's been an issue since last month's announcement that Coralville would use at least $9.5 million in TIF funds to bring Von Maur to its Iowa River Landing District. The move most likely will result in the closing of the Von Maur store in Iowa City's Sycamore Mall.

That has drawn criticism from some Iowa City officials and City Council candidates there. City Manager Tom Markus told The Gazette that Coralville's Von Maur deal was greedy and desperate.

Coralville mayoral candidate John Weihe said last night that Markus' comments had made the situation personal.

'I don't think that leads to good cooperation, so I would like to see some civility and partnership,' he said.

Weihe, an optometrist and current City Council member, is challenging current Mayor Jim Fausett, a retired administrator at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry.

In Coralville, the mayor does not have a vote on the City Council but does have veto power.

Running for two open seats on the five-member council are incumbent Mitch Gross and challengers Lynn Snyder and Jill Dodds.

The forum was sponsored by the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. It was broadcast on local television and online and will be rebroadcast starting Wednesday.

The race for mayor is especially interesting. Fausett has been mayor since 1996, and Weihe has been on the City Council since then.

Weihe cited the Von Maur deal in his case for becoming mayor, saying he believes City Administrator Kelly Hayworth has taken too much criticism over the matter. He said he'd be a strong spokesman for the city as mayor and would remind people that it was the council, not Hayworth, who voted to approve the agreement.

Fausett said he's already made that point, so people shouldn't wait around for Weihe to do so.

He also said that while Coralville has a history of cooperating well with other communities, one of his priorities if re-elected would be to work on community relations.

Coralville also has had disagreements with North Liberty in recent years over unincorporated land, an issue that was settle recently.

Snyder, co-owner of Gregory Properties, a property management company, said TIF projects have helped Coralville improve areas of town that the private sector wasn't going address on its own. However, she said she believes the city has maxed out what it should borrow.

Gross said TIF is an essential tool for a city Coralville's size, but he'd like the city to more often identify goals for a project and then, when those are met, end the TIF rather than have it continue.

'We're at a point where we do need to look at sunsets on TIFs,' said Gross, a teacher at West High School.

Dodds, who runs a day-care center, agreed, saying she'd like more TIF agreements to expire after five to 10 years. She also said a project should be granted a TIF deal only if the business will pay employees livable wages.