The city manager, Peter Zamansky, in January released a proposal to lay out reductions in spending to shrink the deficit this fiscal year. However, policymakers are looking for larger cuts and structural changes to address the city’s long increasing debt burden.

Image via Axios

One of the largest services under scrutiny is Des Moines’ DART bus system. Reimagine Dart is the city’s response to the decision by the communities of Grimes and Pleasant Hills to no longer contribute to funding the municipal bus service. Des Moines, Polk County, and eight suburban communities (Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Clive, Johnston, Urbandale, Windsor Heights, and West Des Moines) have agreed to retain membership in the transit authority and work together over the next 18 months to redesign the system. However, like many services that aren’t turning a profit at the moment, it will likely be reduced to a shell of its current self as it is forced to decide between speed and coverage.

State lawmakers met May 15 without changing tax law. City leaders say lawmakers acknowledge regional public transit’s unique needs, but have prioritized slowing local budget growth over those needs.

(left: current dart coverage, right: after proposed cuts; image via DART)

An earnings tax on those who live outside of Des Moines but commute to the city for work has been advocated by some to address the transit system’s debts, but such a tax remains illegal under Iowa law. Some argue that earnings taxes create negative market distortions and could exacerbate the current budget crisis further. Policymakers fear an earnings tax would decrease population growth and encourage businesses and workers to move and operate outside the city limits to avoid the tax, further lowering the city’s tax base.

Despite rising deficits and debt, in 2023 Republicans passed the homestead tax credit that gave exemption to senior homeowners and limited property tax rate below 3%. As of January 2025, Gov. Reynolds has fully replaced Iowa’s tired progressive income tax system with a flat rate that is estimated to cost the state $600 million in revenue this year. The city has since relied on support from the American Rescue Plan to make up some of that lost revenue; however, in 2025 that support has also ended.

Faced with a need to stay financially solvent and provide essential services, but unable to enact adequate tax reforms, the city has found its solution is rising property values.

In 2018 the city hired consulting firm CBZ to review the city’s development initiatives, which recommended that investing in curb appeal in wealthier neighborhoods and gentrifying the urban downtowns would increase the Des Moines housing market’s competitiveness and raise home prices and tax revenues without high upfront costs associated with providing public services to the poor.

The out-of-state consultant also recommended the city pause the low-income housing tax credit, or LIHTC, and focus on programs like Invest DSM and ION. 

The city is taking public feedback on CBZ’s recommendations until June 15th and plans to vote on the program’s continuation June 30th.

Programs like Invest DSM and Habitat for Humanity have increasingly been directed toward “revitalization” projects that promise both homeowners and city officials that these projects will increase property values and generate tax revenue for the city. ReflectDSM, the city’s historic preservation plan, announced in 2023 these goals:

• Stabilize and improve property values and the equity held by the citizens in their property
• Protect and enhance the city’s attraction to tourists and visitors
• Strengthen the economy of the city

Increasingly, government programs and partnered NGOs have begun to operate not as public services, but with tax revenue and market desirability as a primary goal.

Image via CBZ

This has taken the form of the city increasingly targeting its resources toward specifically middle- and upper-class neighborhoods that have been identified for their market and taxable potential, with less attention given to lower-income communities that, from the city’s perspective, possess a lower return on investment and high costs to service.

At the same time, available land for development is increasingly scarce in the urban center near jobs and opportunities. NIMBYs have used zoning laws and litigation to make it difficult and expensive to construct affordable housing in those areas. 

One resident in the vicinity of a recent housing development for the homeless in East Des Moines told KCCI, “We don’t want it. We have children; this is a little neighborhood, and we don’t want that kind of stuff in our neighborhood. We have kids.” However, there is evidence that neighborhoods with similar homeless housing projects saw reports of crime drop over 30%.

In 2024, another development proposed by Hope Ministries received majority support from the city council and unanimous approval from the city planning commission to construct affordable group homes between two lots of undeveloped woodlands, but the project was slowed down and ultimately abandoned because of challenges from a handful of homeowners.

For the government and developers, this means affordable housing projects have become easier in areas with less friction and more available land, and therefore have been pushed to the suburbs and periphery of the city. Along with the city’s ordinances this year cracking down on the homeless and its increased police budget, the poor are being priced out and intentionally pushed further away from urban opportunities and resources, in order to attract residents with more desirable income brackets. Des Moines is forced to compete with its own suburbs to generate housing solutions similar to those seen in Ankeny or Waukee.

The post Des Moines’ plan to solve its budget crisis: gentrification appeared first on KRUI Radio.

As the old saying goes, there are two certainties on this Earth:

Death and taxes.

Today is April 15th, and that means your individual tax forms are due today. The Internal Revenue Service this year, however, is giving you until April 18th to file your taxes. This is due to the fact that Emancipation Day is being celebrated in our nation’s capitol. If you are one of the lucky ones from either Massachusetts or Maine, you get until April 19th.

Despite the second and third weeks of April being everyone’s kryptonite, the world of sports had events that helped alleviate the pain.

In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games came to a close in Athens, Greece. 60,000 spectators attended the opening ceremonies. 16 nations participated in the games.

In 1911, Washington Senators’ starter Walter Johnson struck out four batters in the fifth inning of their game. The only way that oddity can happen is when there is a drop third strike and the runner advances to first on the passed ball or wild pitch. The strikeout is recorded in favor of the pitcher but since the runner advanced to first base, the out is not recorded. 76 pitchers that have achieved this feat in baseball history.

Fast forward 16 years to 1927. On April 15 of that year, Babe Ruth hit his first homerun of the season. The Sultan of Swat hit a career-high 60 homeruns come season’s end.

Perhaps the most iconic moment in American sport history happened on this day in 1947. Jackie Robinson made his debut on the diamond for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball.

Robinson went on to win the Rookie of the Year that season. Robinson hit a solid .311 average throughout his ten-year career. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his number. Today, all players and coaches in Major League Baseball will wear his number 42 in his honor.

Monday, April 15, 2013 was Patriots’ Day in Boston, and the running of the 117th Boston Marathon. Instead of fondly remembering the holiday, instead people remember the selfish acts of two men. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev placed two pressure-cooker bombs near the race’s finish line. Three spectators died and over 260 were injured in the bombings that shook Boston to its core.

Events, specifically the ones that unfolded in Boston in 2013, are always in the back of our minds. You knew where exactly where you were when you heard the news.

So, when you see your spouse, child, or other immediate family, give them a hug and tell them how much you love them. For some, the second they walk out of the door they may not walk back in the door. Keep that in mind as you sit at the dinner table tonight.

The post Tax Day appeared first on KRUI Radio.