IOWA CITY – The newly created self-supported municipal improvement district in downtown Iowa City is asking for help in creating a name for the organization. The ideal name will be something vibrant and descriptive that illustrates the diverse nature of downtown and the Northside Marketplace, according to a news release. Commercial property owners in...
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IOWA CITY – Iowa City’s Lower Muscatine Avenue has been targeted for a $5.6 million reconstruction. Plans call for a new roadway, lighting, 8-foot sidewalk, storm sewer system, sanitary sewer and other improvements between Kirkwood Avenue and First Avenue in southeast Iowa City, according to a city memorandum released Thursday. Sycamore Street would be...
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UPDATED 3:05 p.m. to clarify verification process for petitions IOWA CITY – A proposal primarily aimed at reducing the number of large student-occupied apartments in Iowa City may face a tougher path to approval. A protest petition has been filed with the city objecting to an ordinance that would prohibit more than three unrelated...
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IOWA CITY – The project that prompted public outcry over the closing of a popular Iowa City vegetarian restaurant is safe from a possible building moratorium. Construction has started on a four-story building on the 500 block of East Washington Street and enough progress will have been made to beat a March 20 deadline...
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IOWA CITY – A new high-rise building proposed for downtown Iowa City moved a step closer Tuesday to getting $2.5 million from the city. The City Council’s Economic Development Committee voted 3-0 to recommend that the full council OK a $2.5 million tax increment financing agreement with developer Marc Moen. The council could review...
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Taxes often hog the spotlight, but a pension system for police officers and firefighters has been getting a lot of attention in recent weeks as Iowa towns put the finishing touches on their annual budgets. The Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System of Iowa, or MFPRSI, is in place in 49 of Iowa’s larger...
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IOWA CITY – Developer Marc Moen has asked the city of Iowa City for a $2.5 million loan to put toward a new high-rise building downtown. Moen wants to build a 14-story building at 114. S. Dubuque St., the current location of a Wells Fargo branch on the Pedestrian Mall.  The Gazette first reported...
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IOWA CITY – The Johnson County Board of Supervisors Thursday night unanimously approved an $84 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The budget sets the tax levy for unincorporated areas at $9.84 per $1,000 of taxable value, down from $10.09 this year. The levy for property within city limits will...
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UPDATED 3:50 p.m. with new lede and corrected day at end of story; 4 p.m. with last graf on justice center plans; 6:10 p.m. with graf at end of story on tax implications IOWA CITY – After an acrimonious past week, a more courteous Johnson County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday informally agreed on...
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IOWA CITY – The Iowa City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved a $54.5 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The financial plan includes a property tax rate of $17.27 per $1,000 of taxable value, down from this year’s $17.84. Because the rollback, which the state sets and is the percentage...
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