Ed Touney, who is seeking the Ward 4 council seat, has made the city’s indebtedness a focal point of his campaign.

“The city is so much in debt compared to like-sized cities it will be tougher to entice businesses to come here knowing that they’re going to have high property tax bills to overcome,’ he said.

His opponent, Councilman Kim Alstott, said the city has borrowed money over the years to complete necessary infrastructure projects, including some that were required by environmental regulations.

Recently, the city applied for and received a $100,000 state grant to help pay for replacing an elevator in the Boston Centre downtown. That move was criticized by Touney and Scott Davis, who is running for an at-large seat on the council.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
City Council candidates, from left, Todd McCubbin, Dennis Mernka, Councilman Kim Alstott, and Ed Touney listen as Kelly Hindman, president of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, gives the opening remarks at Wednesday evening’s forum.

Davis said the building owners should have saved money for the elevator replacement.

Former Councilman Terry Moehnke said the grant was a kind of last resort to get the elevator paid for. He also cautioned against labeling the building owners as wealthy elites.

“Just because they’re lawyers doesn’t mean they’re rolling in dough,” he said. “They have problems like all businesses do.”

The candidates also weighed in on economic development.

“We need a multi-faceted approach,” said Dennis Mernka, who is running for the Ward 3 council seat. “We need retail. We used to be the retail hub of this part of Iowa, but we’ve lost that.”

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Michael Haubrich, center, a candidate for an at-large City council seat, speaks during a forum Wednesday evening. Candidates Scott Davis, right, and Terry Moehnke, left, listen.

“We need a multi-faceted approach so everyone can work together,” he added.

One thing most of the candidates seemed to agree on Wednesday night was the need to demolish some of the most deteriorated downtown buildings.

“I know it’s getting rid of a lot of history and I know people don’t like it when you say we need to tear the Warden down,” said Todd McCubbin, a candidate for the Ward 3 council seat.

“I think by getting rid of those places and then when the city gets ready to put new stuff there we build something new there that looks nice and we can be proud of.” he added.

The forum held at Iowa Central Community College included at-large candidates Michael Haubrich, Davis and Moehnke; Ward 3 candidates McCubbin and Mernka; and Ward 4 candidates Alstott and Touney. Eugene Newsome, an at-large candidate, was not present.

About 50 people attended the forum held at Iowa Central Community College. It was sponsored by the college and the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance.

City debt

Davis, Mernka and Touney have all talked about the city government’s debt during their campaigns.

Initially, they had been listing the debt figure at about $197 million.

The most recent figure as of June 30 is about $210 million.

Most of that debt, about $147 million, will be paid off with revenue from utility bills.

The remaining roughly $63 million will be paid off with taxes, tax increment financing and the reinvestment district that the state approved for Corridor Plaza.

Alstott said the property taxes paid by homeowners will pay for $17 million worth of debt, with the rest of the money coming from other sources.

Touney said he worries that the debt will siphon off the city’s savings and prevent it from providing services.

Families, he said, have to stick to a budget.

“However, our city has blown a budget,” he said.

Moehnke said he believes the city has done a good job improving its infrastructure, but added that it takes debt to do that.

“We can’t stop working on infrastructure,” he said.

Elevator

The city recently received a $100,000 state grant on behalf of the owners of the Boston Centre. It also gave the Development Corporation of Greater Fort Dodge, a private organization, tax increment financing money to create a loan fund to provide downtown building owners with money to fix their properties.

Moehnke said the Boston Centre may have become vacant if financing for a new elevator wasn’t found.

“We do not need another empty building in downtown Fort Dodge,” he said.

Haubrich said he would have supported the help for the Boston Centre. He said the city government receives $20,000 a year in property tax revenue from it, plus local option sales tax revenue.

“This is not going on our taxes,” Alstott said. “This money is coming from the state.”

He added that if Fort Dodge didn’t take the grant money, state officials would give it to some other community.

“The property taxes on your house didn’t go to this,” McCubbin said.

Touney said taxpayers should not “be on the hook” for the elevator.

Mernka said he is opposed to giving public money to private projects.

“We need to use common sense,” he said.

He said homeowners have to come up with the money to fix their properties, and added that the owners of the Boston Centre should have saved more money for repairs.