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Financial leftovers from last year's city budget

on Wed, 12/04/2013 - 01:10   by news

Last month not only resulted in Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, but some financial leftovers from Bettendorf's fiscal 2012-13 budget year which ended June 30.

City Finance Director Carol Barnes walked the city council through the year-end financials at its November meeting and a few items deserve a second look to compare the "hoped for" of last year's budget projections and the cold reality of the end-of-year numbers.

• Despite five years' of significant gambling revenue declines, last year's budget projected an increase in gambling dollars for city coffers. That turned out to be a bad bet.

The city received just $1.58 million in gambling revenue last year, a nearly 6 percent drop from the previous year. Gambling revenue in fiscal 2012-13 was the lowest amount since 1998 when the city take was $1.4 million.

Gambling revenues have fallen more than 30 percent since 2004 when the city's cut from the riverboat gambling hit a high of $2.27 million. The fall off also is noteworthy because it came despite added hotels rooms (to attract out-of-town gamblers) and the addition of a city financed entertainment facility (QC Waterfront Convention Center) that was seen as a way to attract more tourists to boost gambling revenues.

Muscatine environmental group urges state to speed up implementation of air pollution controls

on Wed, 11/20/2013 - 20:28   by Editor

Despite environmentalists' calls for a faster schedule to lower fine particulate pollution in Muscatine, the latest Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) draft implementation plan would not require such emissions be within federal air quality standards until 2017.

At issue is the speed at which Grain Processing Corporation (GPC) – which currently emits 538 tons of particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM 2.5) annually – would be required to put in place dozens of pollution control improvements the firm has begun, but is not expected to complete until December 2016.

In its latest draft now being circulated, the IDNR says PM 2.5 emissions would be reduced by nearly 370 tons per year, with the majority of that reduction from GPC.

Lee Enterprises writes down its value $171 million; post $1.71 per share loss for fourth quarter

on Wed, 11/13/2013 - 03:47   by Editor

Quad City Times owner Lee Enterprises recorded a $171-million accounting charge to reflect the falling value of its business during the fourth quarter, turning a 25 cents per share gain into a $1.71 per share loss, according to financials released Monday (11/11) by the Davenport-based firm.

For the fourth quarter ended September 29, the company reported a net loss of $88.7 million, compared with a net loss of $7.7 million, or 15 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.

For the fiscal year ended September 29, Lee reported a loss of $78 million, 1.51 per share, compared with a $16.7 million loss, 34 cents per share, during fiscal 2012.

The large "non-cash impairment charge" more than offset what the company said would have been a 25 cent per share, $13.2 million, gain for the quarter.

Connecting rural Iowans to broadband Internet service popular campaign idea, but at what cost

on Thu, 11/07/2013 - 23:13   by Editor

Responding to calls by politicians and rural telecom lobbyists to give rural customers in Iowa and the nation equal access to high-speed Internet service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture rolled out its Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) in 2010 and funded it with more than $3 billion in federal stimulus money.

More than $118 million was awarded in grants and loans to create jobs and to extend broadband* service to rural Iowans.

One of those grants was a $12.2-million award to Windstream (formerly Iowa Telecom) to install nearly 500 miles of fiber optic cable that would upgrade company services to customers in Dallas County, west of Des Moines. In its grant application, Windstream said the project would enable the company to boost broadband speeds from 3 megabytes per second (MBps) to 15 MBps and benefit "approximately 9,293 people" and "roughly 14,291 businesses." The company said the improvements would "provide a foundation for economic growth and job creation for decades to come."

Company official last month said the project is nearly complete and to date 500 new broadband customers have been added.

That's an investment of more than $32,000 per customer based on the $12.2 million to be spent by the USDA program, plus $4.1 million in matching funds from Windstream.

Mohr defeats Miller in alderman at-large race

on Wed, 11/06/2013 - 20:21   by Editor

In Bettendorf, Gary Mohr defeated Chad Miller (1,098 votes to 384 votes) for the alderman at-large seat being vacated by Tim Stecker. In the voting for two seats on the Bettendorf Park Board, incumbent Larry Makoben and newcomer Steven Wilger were elected to four-year terms.

In LeClaire, incumbent Mayor Robert Scannell defeated council member Judy Hartig, 533 to 444.

Mohr raises nearly $10,000 to fund campaign for Bettendorf at-large alderman seat

on Sat, 11/02/2013 - 01:56   by Editor

Bettendorf alderman at-large candidate Gary Mohr has raised nearly $10,000 to fund his campaign, while his opponent in next Tuesday's election (11/5) apparently has spent less than the $750 threshold for filing financial reports with the state.

Mohr, of 4755 School House Road, and Chad Miller, of 4340 Tanglewood Road, are seeking to fill the aldermanic seat now held by Tim Stecker, who announced in September he would not seek another 4-year term on the city council.

Park board sets hearing on leasing Crow Creek Park property to private dekhockey business; terms of lease unknown

on Tue, 10/22/2013 - 02:24   by Editor

The Bettendorf Park Board set a public hearing to get citizen feedback on leasing part of Crow Creek Park to a private dekhockey operation even though the lease had not been finalized and basic terms of the agreement were not known.

And, with negotiations on the lease now in limbo, terms of the lease won't even be known prior to the scheduled public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday (10/24).

Editor's Note: The public hearing on the new dekhockey lease was cancelled. A new date has not been set.

City Administrator Decker Ploehn urged the park board at last week's meeting to fast-track the lease approval so the city could begin building a second rink for use by QC Dekhockey, Inc., a private operation which has been using park property rent-free for the past year.

The city would pay for removal of trees, construction of a new base for a second dekhockey rink, lighting and additional parking. Cost of the work is estimated at $50,000. That expense would be in addition to the $12,000 the city spent last year to erect lights and convert the existing basketball courts at Crow Creek Park for the first dekhockey rink.

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