SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
February 16, 2023
Sullivan’s Salvos 2/21/23
In this edition:
*Happy Mardis Gras!
*HeartSafe Community
*Free Tax Help!
*Affordable Housing
*Correction Lines
*Did You Know?
*Happy Mardis Gras!
Tuesday, February 21 is Fat Tuesday, the 22 is Ash Wednesday, and Easter is 40 days away. Sounds like a reason to celebrate! Laissez les bons temps rouler!
*HeartSafe Community
Big news from Johnson County Ambulance! Johnson County has been designated the 4thHeartSafe community in the United States! Thank you for all your support with the implementation of PulsePoint and public access defibrillators.
Application for HeartSafe status was extensive and wouldn’t have been achieved without broad community collaboration.
Here are some of the critical criteria required:
•Widespread CPR instruction
•Public access defibrillators
•Aggressive resuscitation protocols
•AED registry, public awareness and encouragement of bystander intervention (PulsePoint)
•Effective emergency response plans in schools
•911 Dispatch assisted CPR instructions
There have been several AED enclosures installed in our county over the last year. These were a major part of our successful application and are poised to save the life of one of your community members. There are ten additional AEDs and enclosures to be dispensed in 2023. If you would be willing to install an additional enclosure and AED please contact Ambulance Director Fiona Johnson.
Congratulations to everyone involved on this outstanding accomplishment!
*Free Tax Help!
Tax time just got a little less stressful. Thanks to the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, qualifying low-to-moderate income households in Johnson County can receive free tax preparation assistance from trained volunteers from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business. VITA services are available through Tuesday, April 11, 2023. This year tax returns will be completed on an appointment-only basis. Appointments can be made at biz.uiowa.edu/vita.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that 20 percent of American workers do not claim the refundable tax credits for which they are eligible, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). EITC is a special benefit for working people with an annual household income of less than $58,000. Workers who qualify for the EITC and file a federal tax return may be eligible for a portion or all of the federal income tax taken out of their pay during the year. They may also receive additional cash back from the IRS. Even workers whose earnings were too small to owe income tax may be eligible for the EITC.
Trained student volunteer tax preparers help ensure that eligible taxpayers receive the EITC and any other qualifying tax credits. All volunteers are certified by the IRS in preparing returns and have had at least one tax course as part of their coursework or law training.
Electronic filing is provided so that taxpayers can receive their tax refunds quickly. Taxpayers using VITA volunteers to help file their taxes do not pay to have their returns prepared and do not pay to get their refunds.
Eligible households must have a 2022 annual income below $58,000. For more information and to schedule an appointment visit biz.uiowa.edu/vita. Translation services are available and can be made in advance by calling An Leonard at Johnson County Social Services at 319-356-6090.
VITA is a partnership among Johnson County Social Services, the UI Tippie College of Business, Iowa Center for Economic Success, and GreenState Credit Union.
*Affordable Housing
Most people in Johnson County now agree that the lack of affordable housing in Johnson County is a crisis. Some of us have been making this argument for 30+ years, but we appreciate that it has finally sunken in - better late than never.
So, we now agree there is a crisis. How do we address it? Obviously, this is a huge problem all over the US, so federal intervention would help. The feds could start by tripling the number of Section 8 housing vouchers that are available. Right now, waits for vouchers are about three years. This is unacceptable. There are many other things the federal government could do, such as simply building federally funded housing projects. (They used to do this; Johnson County has a few of them.)
The State of Iowa? They could do a lot. But they will do nothing except make things worse. In fact, they may specifically try to stop local efforts. (Because it is worth having hundreds of unhoused people in order for them to “own the libs.”) So no help there.
Closer to home, it is clear the private sector has not solved the problem; in fact, it has gotten worse.
So we look to local governments for some solutions. There are several methods available:
1.) Governments can incentivize affordable housing. Think tax credit projects. Cities can consider less single-family zoning and greater density. Cities can relax parking standards.
2.) Governments can require affordable housing. Iowa City required a certain percentage of affordable housing be built into projects annexing into the city. They required a certain percentage of affordable housing be built into projects in the South District. They required a certain percentage of affordable housing be built into TIF projects. I would like to see more of this from IC, and to see Coralville, North Liberty, and Tiffin do the same thing.
3.) Governments can build affordable housing. We don’t talk about this much, but why doesn’t the UI require freshmen and sophomores to live on campus? It is proven to increase retention, graduation rates, and GPAs, while reducing instances of substance abuse and suicide. Why NOT do so? Sure, it would cost a bit of money upfront, but students end up paying it off. This is a much under-discussed solution. The UI privatized its responsibility to house students way back in the 50s and 60s. A lot of local businesspeople made small fortunes off that decision. But has it been good for the community or good for students? The answer is no. The UI created much of this problem; they should play a role in fixing it.
4.) Governments can make it easier to build affordable housing. This is also under-discussed. First of all, cities should stop allowing covenants. City code should be good enough everywhere. Restrictive covenants add unnecessary (and often discriminatory) rules and costs. Secondly, why not sit down with builders and discuss what rules drive up costs? Perhaps some of these could be waived or amended. Thirdly, we need to encourage smaller lots. Lot size drives cost – period.
Each one of these solutions has pros and cons. None of these efforts is free, nor are any easy. Local governments have done a bit of all these things, with varying degrees of success. I believe local governments are going to need to do more of each of these in order to move the needle on our existing crisis.
*Correction Lines
Have you ever looked at a map and noticed the small indentation on the far west side of Johnson County?
Look at an Iowa map, and focus on the horizontal row of counties that includes Johnson. You’ll notice small jags in their western boundaries. These are called correction lines, and were created to fix the fact that straight lines do not lay out perfectly on our spherical earth. So every so many miles, the surveyors would do a “correction” of approximately a few hundred feet. It is just enough to show up on a detailed map.
Our correction line falls on the border of Hardin and Washington Townships, and makes Washington Township slightly thinner than the townships to its north.
This mapping quirk also exists in other midwestern states. Iowa even has a town (Correctionville) in Woodbury County named for the procedure.
*DID YOU KNOW? On March 2, 1699, French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville arrived at a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans, and named it "Pointe du Mardi Gras" when his men realized it was the eve of the festive holiday.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.
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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 12:22 PM
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