Mahaska County Board Chairman Mark Groenendyk spoke at Monday’s (2/7) regular County Board meeting about a bill under consideration in the Iowa House.  Groenendyk says House File 2082 will redistribute money from Tax Increment Financing areas, or TIFs, away from the County toward schools….and that will affect funding of County road projects.

“We were lining up projects to rebuild infrastructure that needed repair.   So House File 2082 is going to limit our ability to TIF the windmills to repair those damaged roads.  What it does, it will take that TIF money and give it to the schools, to the school district.  And then in return, the state will give the schools less money.  So it basically uses our windmills to fund the schools, so the state does not have to.”

The TIFs in northern Mahaska County include areas where windmills are in place.  Groenendyk says he has spoken to Rep. Dustin Hite of New Sharon, the sponsor of the bill, about how the bill would affect Mahaska County.