I was initially against promise, mainly from bitterness that I was never afforded any assistance in getting post-secondary education. My experience at Central High School when I was a student there was a visit to the office where scholarship research could be done, and being told that the person in the office couldn’t help me because I was not a minority. Apparently, that position is staffed on a grant to help minorities. It just seems to me that everyone should have the same opportunities. I would have loved to have promise when I was younger since I progressed through the Davenport Community Schools from K-12. I would have been a prime candidate for the plan since I attended Scott Community for 2 years then on to the U of Iowa for the advantage of saving money the first two years.
After some research, the promise to me makes some economic sense. There are so many angles that it is beneficial that it seems to me to overshadow the drawbacks. I am interested, as a taxpayer, in the benefits that have surfaced from Kalamazoo. Increased property value, increased leverage in gaining employers and a more driven student population are all to Davenport’s benefit. This seems to me to be important since I just refinanced my mortgage to find that my property value has not changed in the last 8 years. (The appraiser should meet the assessor. They certainly aren’t on the same page.)
I think that the biggest drawback to this is the long term. The reason that Kalamazoo works is that they are one of the only areas in the country doing this. The attraction begins to fade as more areas of the country get on board. Now that being said, I think that if Davenport is going to do this, that it needs to happen now. My thought is that most areas will notice this drawback and be hesitant as the areas that offer promise increases, leaving Davenport in a spot where we remain a unique area. I believe that Kalamazoo recognizes this drawback as well. In an article in the RC Reader, they interview the woman in charge of promise in Kalamazoo. She seemed a little negative about it, as well she should. The more cities that develop this, the less effective promise is for her city. The RC Reader doesn’t really address this, which pretty much goes with their history of not thinking before they send something to the printing press.
The advantages are pretty attractive. There is an immediate attraction to business, likely more so than the advantages of TIF benefits. With the dwindling ability of businesses to offer benefits to employees, this is a win – win for both sides. Companies can attract employees by highlighting this as a benefit to working for a Davenport based company, while employees would want to live here to get the benefit themselves. Businesses want to be where people want to live, especially people with a college education, and quite frankly, an outstanding public education system as well.
My property value will go up. You can’t argue that this is a bad thing with the exception that taxes go up too. That’s a trivial cost vs. benefit when it comes to finances. I don’t really buy that the city would lower taxes based on increased revenue, but it may happen. I’d really enjoy it if my property value actually increased at the rate the assessor’s office speculates that it is increasing. In Kalamazoo, investors immediately realized the property value would increase, changing a trend of decreasing at a pretty substantial rate. One developer even dumped 7 million into land. That was just one developer.
There is a comment in a Times article about the decrease in services and programs by Davenport Schools, and if they can’t keep up now, how will they keep up when enrollment increases. When you increase enrollment, the schools get more money. It seems that the increase in enrollment in Kalamazoo would be similar here, resulting in increased funding for Davenport Schools and hopefully reversing a trend of cuts that are affecting school programs and staffing.
I would like to see a way out of this however, but I’m on the fence about ever retracting the program. Because of that drawback of it becoming a popular nationwide program, the economic benefit may decline over time. Getting out of the program if it loses its effectiveness may not be the best idea, resulting in a negative economic impact. That being said, I would also like to see some private/corporate funding, like that in the Kalamazoo program. After all, it is a benefit to business. However, adding private/corporate funding may help offset the decreasing economic impact should that occur.
I see the positive impact that this can have, and I certainly don’t see it as a bad thing. To really cement my support for this, I would like to see some funding other than that of the taxpayer. Granted, living here and paying taxes makes this a nice benefit to get a little money back. And in my opinion, I’d rather put money into a taxpayer pocket through this than in the pocket of a big business through TIF. It is nice that Davenport can do this without generating a new tax. I just wish there was truly a promise to me, the taxpayer, that the benefit will offset the reallocation of current monies and that my taxes will go down from the increased tax base. Based on Kalamazoo and the lack of growth in Davenport, I think I am ready for the risk.
Articles:
http://media.www.westernherald.com/media/storage/paper881/news/2007/01/22/Opinion/Editorial.Michigan.Promise-2665140.shtml
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2007/11/college_promise_could_spread.html
http://qctimes.com/articles/2007/05/28/news/local/doc465a4b29c1b72629490152.txthttp://www.rcreader.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12352&Itemid=42
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7 comments:
MY ? is where are we going to get the replacement $$ if the sales tax $$ is taken. Those who live in the blighted areas, ( a lot of hte city) will suffer I fear. Public safety will further be cut, it cannot be a good thing for us.
To 5:33: The Promise folks have teamed with the police & firefighters folks. The proposal is that 90% of the sales tax would go to the Promise and 10% to more cops and firefighters. Public safety should actually get an increase in funding with their proposal.
You make a good point that the benefit will not be as great in Kalamazoo because they were the first ones to do it. What Davenport really needs to be concerned with is getting it done before Bettendorf, Moline or Rock Island do.
200 years ago, giving everyone in the nation a free high school education probably seemed like a fairly radical idea. The education system put in place back then carried our country through about 170 years of prosperity, but in recent decades it simply hasn't been enough. Industry has already made up its mind that some kind of secondary education is necessary. Its time for our system to catch up. The earlier Davenport recognizes this before other areas do, the more it will benefit.
Don't say that - go and ask any police union member and they don't know much about it. They have not teamed up. This entire thing went foul.
I guess we'll find out next week what the proposal is.
Hammerlink takes a shot at promise, Winborn and Malin as quoted in the Quad Cities Times. Heeee...s back.
With Meyer gone, someone needs to fill the gap?
The council has had all of the details on promise, although some may not have done thier homework yet. If the council isn't ready to consider it, they can table it until they are ready for a serious dicussion. None of the Aldermen should be trying to debate it in the press.
Hammerlink seems to be the one filling the Meyer gap. He seems to love hearing himself talk. I find it hard to believe that he is so outspoken against the Promise when he failed to attend any of the planning meetings that a diverse group of citizens have worked on for months. Is there anything that he won't come out against? What is his plan to halt the downward slide of this city?
I attended a lot of the planning meetings and they were soooo boring. The same crap over and over. There was nothing new gained by attending more then one. My favorite was the one at United Nieghbors when they told us the the diversion of tax dollars was really no big deal. UUHHH - us po folk don't know nothin about no taxin! It was insulting.
There is no plan to replace those millions and the regular people in the area are going to take a huge hit on public safety and our capital improvements - not the rich people in nice areas. Now, let's take the money from the unneeded projects and then we can talk.
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