City of Decorah to ask for voluntary donations to SSMID district

An ordinance establishing a new Self Supporting Municipal Improvement District--or "SSMID"--in downtown Decorah and West Decorah did not get recorded in time to meet a state deadline to collect the property taxes.  That means $15,000 in SSMID taxes won't be able to be collected as planned in 2011-2012.  Money raised by the levy helps to fund amenities such as flower baskets, benches, trash receptacles, bicycle racks, trees, kiosks and Christmas lights.

Monday night representatives of the city's SSMID Board met with the city's Finance Committee to ask the city to give the SSMID Board the $15,000 in revenues that would have been raised.

The request met with varied responses.  City council member Steve Matter stated he favored giving the SSMID Board the $15,000, stating, "The city made a mistake."  Finance Committee chairperson Paul Wanless was less supportive, wanting to explore other alternatives.  City Council member Karen Tjossem suggested the city give the SSMID Board $5,000 to cover the cost of SSMID's contribution to downtown flower baskets.

The Finance Committee settled on a suggestion made by City council member Gary Rustad that letters be sent to the 300 property owners in the SSMID district, asking them to voluntarily make their contributions.  The letters would be co-written by SSMID board members and city officials.  The Finance Committee would then wait until after September 1st to see how many voluntary contributions had been made.  After that time, the Finance Committee would meet again to discuss the issue.