An appeal has been filed by Indianola residents in Polk County District Court regarding the decision by the Iowa State Appeal Board on the City of Indianola’s use of approximately $2 million of local option sales and service tax (LOSST) funds for the Square Reconstruction Project.
A petition filed by approximately 225 Indianola residents on April 27th to the State Appeal Board was to keep the LOSST funds from being used on the project, stating the funds should not be used for anything but their original use, which was stated by the then Indianola City Council for the Water Resource Recovery Facility.
The State Appeal Board unanimously denied the petition at its June 7th meeting, citing any city budget protest must be filed by April 10th after the budget submission to the state on March 31st. The board also stated budget amendments may also be protested by the board, however no budget amendments were cited in the petition, instead citing the action by the Indianola City Council on April 19th to use LOSST funds on the project The board cited the use of LOSST as a funding source for this type of project is governed by the allowable purpose statement approved by vote of the citizens when the LOSST referendum was approved.
According to court documents, the protest to using the funds alleges the use of LOSST funds was illegal because they were not being used for a purpose other than what was authorized by voters when they approved the initial tax referendum, and sought intervention from the board to prevent their use. The appeal also states among other items the State Appeal Board did not grant a hearing as required by statute and did not give protestors an opportunity to be heard before the dismissal of their petition.
View the full appeal filing below.