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Legislative Letters City Manager's Office City Hall 50 West 13th Street Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864 (563) 589-4110 office (563) 589-4149 fax (563) 690-6678 TDD ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org rHECITYOF C..~ [--) ----::v--j.- -- - _ U BUl.1lJ 1 ~~~ March 8, 2006 VIA FAX and 1 sl Class Mail 202-224-6020 The Honorable Charles Grassley U.S. Senate 135 Senate Hart Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator Grassley: We need your help in restoring funding to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. Please consider including language during the mark-up of the FY07 Budget Resolution that would provide $4.3 billion in formula funding to support the CDBG program. The Administration's FY07 budget cuts the formula funding for CDBG by approximately 25%. Moreover, the formula funding has been cut by 15% in the last two years alone. Communities in Iowa, and across the country, cannot continue to sustain cuts to the program. CDBG has served communities for 30 years as a resource to help cities, counties, and States meet their community development, affordable housing, and economic development needs. The program's funding is in serious trouble and we ask you to help restore the formula funding to at least $4.3 billion in FY07. In the City of Dubuque, CDBG funds numerous programs that assist low and moderate income persons. Last year alone, CDBG funds assisted 99 owner-occupied residential housing units with rehabilitation, rehabbed 14 rental units, helped 3 first time homeowners to buy a home and created 20 new jobs. Over 6500 people received services funded with CDBG, including recreation programs, vocational training for at- risk youth, group therapy for the mentally ill, summer reading programs, and programs for the elderly. Neighborhood and community development programs provided for a variety of neighborhood services and improvements, sidewalk and accessible curb Service People Integritv Responsibilitv Innovation Teamwork The Honorable Charles Grassley March 8, 2006 Page 2 ramps, improvements in neighborhood parks, historic preservation and neighborhood support grants. With the proposed reduction of the program, we will no longer be able to fund the same level of services and programs. Fewer low and moderate-income citizens will be assisted. These cuts directly affect the local economy, as they translate into reduced private investment that is fueled by CDBG funding. In short, the CDBG program is an effective Federal domestic program which allows Dubuque to revitalize our community with proven results. We ask you to support the CDBG program in FY07 by including language in the Budget Resolution to provide a funding level of $4.3 billion in formula funding for the program. Sincerely, (l1~~~ Michael C. Van Milligen City Manager MCVM:at City Manager' 5 Office City Hall 50 West 13th Street Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864 (563) 589-4110 office (563) 589-4J49 fax (563) 690-6678 TDD ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org DIUOB~~E ~~~ March 8, 2006 VIA E-mail and 1st Class Mail Governor Tom Vilsack Governor's Office State Capitol Des Moines, IA 50319 Dear Governor Vilsack, The Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad Corporation (DM & E) is trying to get federal permission to extend their rail line to Wyoming to haul coal. They would add 34 trains per day (17 each way) going through Rochester, Minnesota. It is our understanding that the City of Rochester is trying to get the Federal Government to redirect the trains through Mason City to Marquette, through Dubuque, down to Clinton and across the Mississippi. If this were to occur it would greatly jeopardize Dubuque's Riverfront Development. Over the past several years, the City of Dubuque in partnership with other public and private entities, have invested $188 million to acquire land and redevelop the Port of Dubuque. Due to this investment, our community has become known as the "Masterpiece on the Mississippi". We are now beginning the second phase of the Port redevelopment which we anticipate to leverage another $200 million and will include an expansion of the National Mississippi River Museum. Based on the initial investment and on our future plans, I'm sure you can understand the City's concern with a proposal to relocate this coal transport route. Service l~eople Integrity Responsibility Irmovation Teamwork Governor Tom Vilsack March 8, 2006 Page 2 Any help you can provide us to prevent this transport through our downtown and redeveloped Port of Dubuque would be appreciated. Sincerely, flN~ ~fi~ Michael C. Van Milligen City Manager MCVM:dh Enclosure cc: Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel David Heiar, Economic Development Director htlp:! /news. postbu Iletin.com/newsmanaqer/templates/local news stOry .asp? a =2483 78 Austin, Iowa not thrilled with 'ultimate bypass' Thu, Feb 23, 2006 By Jeffrey Pieters The Post-Bulletin From Rochester's perspective, a rail line through Iowa looks like the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad's "ultimate bypass." But government leaders in cities lying along the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad in Iowa say they'd be just as opposed to increased, high- speed coal traffic as Rochester has been. "We already have umpteen coal trains a day coming through this town, along with other (train) traffic," said Pat McGarvey, interim city administrator in Mason City, Iowa. 'We've had to get accustomed to what's here, to the cost of $5 million" for a new street overpass, opened last August. McGarvey bristled at the suggestion that Rochester and its congressional delegation might broker a compromise with the railroad, requiring it to divert coal traffic, up to an additional 34 trains per day~ onto the IC&E line. "Sounds like we need to get our congressional delegation out there brokering a compromise,N McGarvey said. Rochester has suggested the ICaE bypass requirement be made a condition of granting a $2.5 biUion federal railroad construction loan. DMaE needs the money to upgrade its line and extend it 260 miles into Wyoming, where the railroad intends to meet coal mines in the Powder River Basin region and haul the coal east. Rochester has been at the forefront of groups fighting the project, increased traffic from which, they say, would cause vast harm to Mayo Clinic and the overall Rochester economy, affect public safety and diminish quality of tife for those living near the tracks. Rerouting trains Routing trains from the DMaE line onto the IC&E line, at Owatonna, would spare Rochester that traffic. But others farther down that line have economic concems of their own. Mike Van Milligan, city administrator in Dubuque, said his city has spent $200 miUion redeveloping its riverfront in recent years. 'The access to the riverfront area is over this railline,N he said. "Increasing the magnitude of train traffic by 34 trains would severely limit the return on investment." "We'd be strongly opposed" to imposing more traffic on the ICaE line, Van Milligan said. Effect on cities In Austin, City Administrator Jim Hurm said, "I don't think we'd be any more happy about it (coal train traffic) than folks in Rochester are. ... There would be no advantage for Austin. It would be backing traffic and on, and on, and on." In Mason City, added traffic on the ICaE might be able to bypass the city on existing tracks. But other lines cross through the center of the city, McGarvey said, passing within five blocks of the downtown core, three blocks from a medical complex and two blocks from a new surgery center. Existing coal-train traffic, on the Union Pacific line, amounts to 15 to 20 trains per day, McGarvey said. That traffic has not devastated the town, he said, but neither is the city eager to add more trains. "The track is probably as fine as you can find in the country," he said, The line consists of welded rail, such as what is proposed through Rochester, the engines run more quietly than one would expect, and the trains slow down as they pass through the city, he said. The city, with help from the Iowa Department of Transportation, raised $5 million over the course of several years to build one overpass. If train traffic increased significantly on the IC&E line, the city would have to build perhaps two more interchanges. 'The folks of .M.ason City are not interested in solving a new problem to the tune of $12 million to $13 million," McGarvey said. Rochester's risks greatest, officials say In a news conference on Wednesday, Rochester-area public officiats and representatives of Mayo Clinic said they consider the potential harms in Rochester likely greater than they would be anywhere on the line further south. 'There really is no equivalent situation," said Dr. Glenn Forbes, Mayo's CEO. And Olmsted County Board Chairman Ken Brown said, 'There are no other big cities that are impacted by this. N When asked whether they'd been in contact with any of those cities, officials gave no indication that they had. Kevin Schieffer, DM&E's president and CEO, said Rochester's concerns over train traffic levels are perhaps overblown. "It all boits down to this h speculation," he said. "It's impossible to predict." He said, however, that it is likely that a share of the eastbound traffic would leave the line at points west of Rochester. How many trains leave the line could not be quantified, and Schieffer declined to describe likely destinations. The federal Surface Transportation Board's Section of Environmental Analysis, in its 2000 review of the project, identlfied two coal-train interchange points west of Rochester, in Mankato and Owatonna. DM&E has been specifically prohibited from using the Owatonna interchange, where the DM&E tine meets the IC&E, for coal trains until after further environmental review is completed. City officials believe the primary intent of DM&E's project is to deliver coal to Eastern markets, and they do not expect coal tramc would diminish much as it approaches and finally passes through Rochester. Post-Bulletin Reporter Roxana Orellana contributed to this article. City Manager's Office City Hall 50 West 13th Street Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864 (563) 589-4110 office (563) 589-4149 fax (563) 690-6678 TOO ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org THE CITY OF (~ I)uBuQtJI~ ~~~ 4 March 3, 2006 VIA FAX and 1st Class Mail 202-226-5051 The Honorable Jim Nussle U.S. House of Representatives 303 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-1502 Dear Representative Nussle: We need your help in r!'lstoring funding to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. We urge you to include language in your manager's amendment during the mark-up of the FY07 Budget Resolution that would provide $4.5 billion in formula funding to support the CDBG program. The Administration's FY07 budget cuts the formula funding for CDBG by approximately 25%. Moreover, the formula funding has been cut by 15% in the last two years alone. Communities in Iowa, and across the country, cannot continue to sustain cuts to the program. CDBG has served communities for 30 years as a resource to help cities, counties, and States meet their community development, affordable housing, and economic development needs. The program's funding is in serious trouble and we ask you to help restore the formula funding to at least $4.5 billion in FY07. In the City of Dubuque, CDBG funds numerous programs that assist low and moderate income persons. Last year alone, CDBG funds assisted 99 owner-occupied residential housing units with rehabilitation, rehabbed 14 rental units, helped 3 first time homeowners to buy a home and created 20 new jobs. Over 6500 people received services funded with CDBG, including recreation programs, vocational training for at- risk youth, group therapy for the mentally ill, summer reading programs, and programs for the elderly. Neighborhood and community development programs provided for a variety of neighborhood services and improvements, sidewalk and accessible curb ramps, improvements in neighborhood parks, historic preservation and neighborhood support grants. Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork , The Honorable Jim Nussle March 3, 2006 Page 2 With the proposed reduction of the program, we will no longer be able to fund the same level of services and programs. Fewer low and moderate-income citizens will be assisted. These cuts directly affect the local economy, as they translate into reduced private investment that is fueled by CDSG funding. In short, the CDSG program is an effective Federal domestic program which allows Dubuque to revitalize our community with proven results. We ask you to support Iowa's communities by supporting the CDSG program in FY07 by including language in your manager's amendment to provide a funding level of $4.5 billion in formula funding for the program. Please feel free to call me with any questions. Sincerely, (l1~ L{v~fJ7JL Michael C. Van Milligen City Manager MCVM:at cc: David Harris, Housing and Community Development Department Director March 14,2006 VIA Email and 1 st Class Mail <<Email>> <<CompleteOFFICIALName _Address>> Re: HF 2712 - Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) Dear <<Title>> <<Last>>, I am writing to encourage you to vote no to HF 2712 and its companion bill SF 2265 regarding the establishment of a deferred retirement option plan (DROP) for the Municipal Fire Police Retirement System. These bills would expand the level of benefits provided under the 411 system while requiring cities to bear all of the additional risk to sustain the 411 system. The State must first address a more equitable distribution of contribution rates among participating parties before providing an expansion of benefits - benefits that are not needed for the recruitment of police and fire employees. Since fiscal year 2003, the City of Dubuque's contribution to the retirement system for police officers and firefighters has increased by over 66% going from 17% of wages to 28.21 % of wages in fiscal year 2006. This has resulted in $1,210,203 in additional annual cost to the City's contribution to the police officer and firefighter retirement system. However, the contribution rate for police officers and firefighters of 9.35% of wages has remained unchanged since Fiscal Year 1997. Please vote no to HF 2712 and its companion bill SF 2265 which will again disproportionately increase contribution rates made by cities to the Municipal Police and Fire Retirement System. Thank you for your continued efforts to works with cities. Sincerely, Michael C. Van Milligen City Manager MCVM:cs Cc: Mayor Roy D. Buol Dubuque City Council Susan Judkins, Director of Governmental Affairs, Iowa League of Cities Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Dawn Lang, Budget Director Randy Peck, Personnel Manager The Honorable Pam Jochum House Chamber Iowa Capitol Building Des Moines, IA 50319 The Honorable Steve Lukan House Chamber Iowa Capitol Building Des Moines, IA 50319 The Honorable Pat Murphy House Chamber Iowa Capitol Building Des Moines, IA 50319 The Honorable Ray Zirkelbach House Chamber Iowa Capitol Building Des Moines, IA 50319 The Honorable Thomas Schueller House Chamber Iowa Capitol Building Des Moines, IA 50319