Income use from Des Moines parking garage under fire

Federal officials are investigating whether the city of Des Moines has improperly spent millions of dollars in income generated from a parking garage, according to interviews and public documents obtained by The Des Moines Register.

The result could be higher property taxes for residents if federal officials demand that Des Moines repay a $15.2 million grant.

“I hope the city of Des Moines is retaining somebody who knows what the heck they’re doing … because they’re going to get a letter at some point saying ‘refund that money,’ ” said Kim Mann, an attorney representing a transit authority in Roanoke,What Is Skirtting tile? Va., where federal officials are engaged in a similar battle over improper spending.

For Des Moines, the questions pivot on a 1997 agreement in which the city accepted $15.2 million in federal grants to build a $23.2 million park-and-ride garage at Seventh and Center streets, two blocks west of Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

That agreement includes a provision that stipulates any revenue generated from the parking garage must be used for the facility, its shuttle system or other associated transit costs.

But during the past nine years Des Moines has directed almost $8.3 million of income from the garage to the area’s regional bus service. And in recent years hundreds of thousands of dollars have been used to offset property taxes that Des Moines residents pay for the regional transit service known as DART.

City Manager Rick Clark and Deputy City Attorney Larry McDowell say they believe the federal agreement is broad in scope and that the revenue can be used to pay for services that don’t directly benefit the garage, as long as they are for transit-related purposes.

But the Federal Transit Administration cited the spending as a problem finding in a review released in June, and Des Moines residents can expect higher property taxes if the city is found to have improperly spent the money, said Councilwoman Christine Hensley.

Federal officials are now requiring Des Moines to account for all revenue and expenses of the garage. They have also directed DART, the Des Moines Area Regional Transit authority, to develop a formal agreement of how it will monitor the garage’s income to assure that the money is used properly.Find detailed product information for Glazed rustic tile and other products.

It is unknown what specific consequences may be ahead for Des Moines should federal officials ultimately rule that the revenue is being spent improperly. Federal Transit Administration spokespeople Brian Farber and Amy Bernstein declined to answer specific questions about the issue or comment about the city’s broader interpretation of the contract. Questions posed to members of the FTA audit team went unanswered.The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges.

In a statement issued to the Register, Farber simply said the FTA is reviewing the issue with the city and DART.

Hensley said the city would contest the FTA’s findings before raising taxes on residents. She also had a question for the federal agency.

“Why is this being brought up now?” asked Hensley, a DART board member. “We’ve gone through previous triennial reviews and this issue has never been raised before.”

In the current fiscal year and the previous two, Des Moines officials used $680,000 of revenue from the park-and-ride garage to reduce property tax contributions to DART. In some previous years, the city allocated as much as $1.1 million in park-and-ride revenue to the transit authority, city records show.

Using park-and-ride revenue has lowered Des Moines’ transit tax rate by about 10.5 cents per $1,000 of valuation. That’s about $5.25 in savings for a home assessed at $100,000 after various state credits are applied.

Clark, the city manager, maintains that Des Moines has not violated its park-and-ride contract with the federal government.

“Using the money for DART is a transit purpose, so in my view, that use of the funds is wholly consistent with what we originally agreed to. Now, if the FTA is now saying that’s not accurate,Buy Crystal tile online, I guess I’d need to hear that,” Clark said.

The agreement specifically states that the revenue can only be used for the operation, improvement or repairs of the facility. However,We offer over 600 landscape oil paintings at wholesale prices of 75% off retail. the contract also notes that “other transit operating costs” are permitted, citing a federal regulation that shows the city can retain the income as long as it is used for mass transit purposes. The federal regulation does not specifically say that the “mass transit purposes” must directly benefit the project that generated the revenue.