SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
February 20, 2020
Sullivan’s Salvos 2/25/20
In this edition:
*Pitchers and Catchers Have Reported!
*Happy Mardi Gras!
*Prairie Preview
*Free Tax Help!
*Real Economic Development!
*Think About It…
*Did You Know?
*Pitchers and Catchers Have Reported!
Baseball is beginning spring training. Spring is on the way, and a world full of new hope and possibility presents itself. Take it in, my friends!
*Happy Mardis Gras!
Tuesday, February 25 is Fat Tuesday, the 26th is Ash Wednesday, and Easter is 40 days away. Sounds like a reason to celebrate! Laissez les bons temps rouler!
*Prairie Preview
Join Bur Oak Land Trust for our 37th annual Prairie Preview on Thursday, February 20 at the Bohemian (formerly the Highlander) in Iowa City. Environmental exhibitors are on hand and Sarah Nizzi from the Xerces Society will give the keynote talk: Integrating Nature into our Daily Lives and Why it Matters.
The event is FREE to the public. Doors open at 6:30 pm. For further information or to become an event sponsor contact 319-338-7030 or info@buroaklandtrust.org.
Thank you to our event sponsors: River Products; Dr. Suzanne Stock, Orthodontist; Iowa Native Plant Society; Iowa Living Roadway Trust; Star LaMorte Wojciak; City of Coralville; Friends of Hickory Hill Park; Impact7G; Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation; Lensing Funeral & Cremation; and Lon and Barbara Drake.
*Free Tax Help!
Don’t pay a fee to get your refund! The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program provides trained volunteers that will help you file your taxes. This service is available FOR FREE to people who earned less than $55,000 in 2019. E-filing is available, and interpretation services are available at many sites or by appointment.
“You Earned It. Now Claim It!”
Sites and times are available on the County website – see the Social Services Department for the complete schedule.
Spanish interpreters are available; interpreters for other languages can be scheduled by calling 356-6090.
*Real Economic Development!
This appeared in Salvos several times over the years, but it bears repeating as we approach tax season.
*What if I told you we could bring in 60 full-time jobs that would pay $15 per hour?
*What if I told you these jobs could neither be outsourced overseas nor subcontracted?
*What if I told you those jobs would be filled by hard-working low-income people, all of whom are local?
*What if I told you NO bribery (aka “tax incentives”) would be required to land these jobs?
*What if I told you there were no special workforce training programs required?
*What if I told you virtually ALL of the money earned would be spent locally?
What would happen? Well, the Chamber of Commerce would put it in their newsletter, and the Ambassadors would do a ribbon cutting. Debi Durham would come over from Des Moines and do a big press event, and the Governor just might join her. ICAD would tweet this success to the world. Mayors would grab gold shovels and pose for a photo. You might get a visit from a US Senator. The Press Citizen and Gazette would both do front page stories. The Corridor Business Journal would write a nice editorial. The region would be hailed for its forward thinking, and folks would talk far and wide about how well we do economic development.
So what if I told you the exact equivalent has already occurred? It has.
Several years ago, I went to a National Association of Counties (NACo) conference and learned about a program that had started in Cook County, Illinois.
As it turns out, a huge number of low-income workers leave money on the table when it comes to the federal income tax system, particularly the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Cook County created a series of free tax clinics to ensure this money returned to their county.
I did some investigating, and it just so happened that Johnson County had the same problem, though obviously on a much smaller scale.
So I pushed for Johnson County to begin a free tax help program. It struck me that we had a potential partner in the Tippe College of Business, and as luck would have it, I could not have had better timing. Dr. Joyce Berg was ready to greatly expand the work her student tax preparers would do. It was a perfect fit.
Former Supervisor (and current Legislator) Sally Stutsman was very supportive. Amy Correia had just been hired as Johnson County’s first Social Services Director, and Amy took the ball and ran with it, including securing grants to cover all operating costs. The Tippe College, ICCSD, United Way, Iowa City Public Library, and many others have become valued partners. In recent years, current Social Services Director Lynette Jacoby has maintained and improved upon all this success.
What are the results? The Free Tax Help Program brings well over $1.5 million into the local economy every year. It goes to low-income local workers, who spend it locally. And it uses no local tax dollars.
Remember when I said “60 full-time jobs at $15 per hour”? That adds up to a $1.78 million annual impact, just like the Free Tax Help Program. But the Free Tax Help Program is actually even better, because it serves over 1,400 Johnson County tax filers and their families!
Economic Development can take many forms. I happen to believe the Free Tax Help program has contributed a lot of good things to the local economy. We have not had any fancy groundbreakings or ribbon cuttings, but we have accomplished something!
So if you know Lynette Jacoby, thank Lynette Jacoby. She has done great work! If you know Joyce Berg, thank Joyce Berg. Her students have given much more back to this community than they could ever take.
*Think About It…
I just heard the activist Bryan Stevenson (author of Just Mercies) on the radio. He made a point that shocked me in that it was succinct, poignant, and I had never considered it before:
“The American South is full of statues of Confederate leaders. But Germany is not full of statues of Adolph Hitler.”
Think about it…
*DID YOU KNOW? Spring training is almost as old as baseball itself. The best evidence points to spring training first taking place in 1870, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings held organized baseball camps in New Orleans.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 1:18 PM
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