LE CLAIRE, Iowa — Scott County is raising concerns about plans to build a YMCA in LeClaire. Board members told News 8 they support the project itself, but not how LeClaire plans to fund its construction.
For the last year, the city of LeClaire and YMCA of the Iowa Mississippi Valley have been working together. They plan to build a YMCA recreation center next to I-80. Parks and Recreation Director Greg Ludwig said that's exactly what the community wants.
"This does hit a need that we found that the community is looking for as well," Ludwig said. "We had plans to put in a recreation center in the near future, but we can kind of cross that off the list with the YMCA coming."
Based on interest surveys, Ludwig said people want options for aquatics and recreation closer to home. Those living in LeClaire likely went to the Bettendorf YMCA, or a fitness center near where they work.
The city already bought the land and building at the proposed site, the current home of a boat and golf cart seller. It cost nearly $1.4 million, paid for by speed camera revenue. Ludwig said the existing building will be incorporated into the final design to save on costs.
The YMCA will split the estimated $16 million in construction costs with the city.
"This would be significantly cheaper and we would be able to fill a lot of the needs we would want," Ludwig said.
The city wants to fund its half of the construction through its tax increment financing district. That would use local and county property taxes to pay the $8 million bill. But the Scott County Board isn't too happy with that plan.
"Main thing is we prefer to see TIF used for projects that are rejuvenating or taking a blighted area and bringing it up," Ken Beck, supervisor chair for Scott County, said.
He the board believes TIFs shouldn't be used for infrastructure that only benefits people in one city.
"It's our opinion that those are the residents that need to be paying the bill," Beck said. "Not somebody who lives out in Donahue or lives out in Eldridge, which is in essence what happens with TIF, because the tax dollars are taken away, so we don’t have those dollars to put into the revenue to reduce the taxes for everybody else."
Despite the board's opinions, it has no authority over how a city uses a TIF.
"So they will go ahead and TIF it, we'll go ahead and lose our tax dollars for those particular properties," Beck said.
And he said the board isn't opposed to the recreation center itself.
"Just because we don’t agree on the use of TIF doesn't mean it’s a bad project. It’s just in our opinion not an appropriate use of TIF," Beck said.
News 8 spoke to LeClaire's city administrator Dennis Bockenstedt over the phone. He said LeClaire wouldn't be able to afford the construction without the TIF. He also said the study gauging interest in the YMCA extended past city limits, meaning others in the county would benefit from the facility.
Ludwig said the project is in the planning stages right now, so the construction costs are still just estimates.