Letter to the editor: TIF mishandling

Editor's note: The following letter was written by the City of Storm Lake’s attorney to lawyers for Buena Vista County regarding a dispute over missing tax increment financing revenue. The attorney for the city, Bill Miller, shared it with the Storm Lake Times Pilot.

Dear Counsel:

We are enclosing a copy of an editorial published by the Storm Lake Times Pilot on Dec. 27, 2023, titled, “Editorial: Croker Makes Biggest News.” This editorial quotes Buena Vista County Supervisor Kathy Croker as stating, “We were expecting dialogue between the board and the city. We were expecting that,” Croker said. “We’re sorry, too, especially for the taxpayers.”

Ms. Croker’s statement is the first time the City has heard that the Board of Supervisors — the presumptive “we” in her quote — expected further “dialogue between the board and the city.” The editorial suggests “[t]he city should take that opening” and contends this “was the first call for public dialogue that we have heard other than coming from these quarters.” Of course, the city disagrees with that characterization because it has repeatedly asked the County to engage with it to discuss a non-litigated resolution to the County’s admitted errors, omissions, and/or negligence.

Just in case the City has been misunderstood over its past year-plus of communications, we write to state categorically that the City seeks dialogue with the County with the goal of making the City whole and avoiding litigation. The County has long known that the City estimated that it missed out on approximately $5 million due to the County’s failure to properly provide for the division of funds under the TIF regime. This harm was acknowledged by personnel in the auditor’s office in April 2022 before the County chose to hand over these issues to Mr. Allen.

The City is at a complete loss as to why it should now need to “take [the] opening” introduced by Ms. Croker so the City and County can “have a serious conversation about how to restore $5 million or so to the city.” The County has repeatedly rebuffed such a conversation over the last year. But if the County is finally again acknowledging the scope of the problem it created and is ready to “scratch [$5 million or so] together over a three-year period” it seems quite likely this matter can be resolved without litigation. Toward this end, the City is amenable to a meeting between Ms. Croker and the City elected official of the County’s choice with no attorneys in attendance. Perhaps this meeting will result in a deal being “nailed down,” subject to approval by majorities of the board and council.

Please contact us if the County is once again prepared to dialogue with the City about a non-litigation solution to this matter. This is a standing invitation because the City will continue to welcome resolution even after litigation has been initiated and we are on the way to court.

In the meantime, however, we will continue to prepare for the litigation the City feels it has no choice but to file based on the County’s failure to truly engage about a resolution of this matter to date. To that end, we will be copying you on additional public records requests that we are sending today.

Sincerely,

William J. Miller

Des Moines