Talks of a franchise fee in Burlington are back as Councilman Matt Rinker points to the tax as the only way to accomplish several goals: add police officers, refrain from cutting services, overcome a looming $1 million deficit and not raise property taxes in the process.

A franchise fee, or a utility tax to be applied to electricity and gas bills, is a long shot in Burlington. The City Council could technically apply the tax itself, but a simple petition could force a public vote, so city councils in Iowa routinely opt to save money and time by putting it straight up for a vote.

Precedent for those votes is not good. Burlington voted 82 to 17 percent against a franchise fee in 2013.

But, Rinker argues, there's a difference now. If Burlington does nothing for the next few years, the long-term costs of police officers and firefighters added last year could prove a budget disaster.

"The last time this came up, we didn't have a million dollar deficit staring us in the face in five years," Rinker, who was elected in November, said Wednesday. "We have to either A, cut services in a couple years, which can't come from fire because we wouldn't comply with the SAFER grant; B, raise property tax rates, which I'm not in favor of doing; or C, a franchise fee."

The maximum amount the council could put up for a vote is a 5 percent increase. If approved, that would mean a universal 5 percent increase to gas and electricity bills citywide.

The maximum amount of cash Burlington could make, using that 5 percent figure, is about $1.8 million. A lower increase might be easier to stomach, but it also would mean less cash.

Tax-exempt buildings could be exempted from the fee, but not many cities do so, City Manager Jim Ferneau reports. Rinker's figuring does not exclude nonprofits from the tax.

Burlington also could implement different increases for residential and commercial properties, and plenty of cities do.

Rinker, who ignited the discussion by suggesting the tax at Monday's council work session, isn't aiming to totally fulfill Police Chief Doug Beaird's request for two additional officers in fiscal 2019 and another two in fiscal 2020. He wants to add the two this year, then add one in fiscal 2020.

He is, however, looking to use the franchise fee to soften Burlington's property tax rate. His goal is knocking an eventual $1.25 off the current $16.33 per $1,000 of taxable value property tax levy.

Ferneau wrote in an email that the extent to which a fee could do all those things depends on how far and in which direction the majority of the council wants to go.

Rinker claims Burlington has "one of the highest property tax rates in the state," but Burlington's rate isn't actually so extreme. Compared to the city's six official benchmark cities, Burlington's rate is third. In the larger 22-city comparison group of all Iowa cities with populations greater than 20,000, Burlington is seventh. 

Of the 80 Iowa cities with more than 5,000 people, Burlington's tax levy is in spot 21. Out of all 945 communities, Burlington is 115th. Burlington taxes are above average, but not extremely so.

Even so, Rinker thinks lowering the rate could make Burlington more "competitive" with other communities in terms of attracting businesses and new residents.

The council already is split on the franchise fee. Councilwoman Lynda Murray backed Rinker up Monday, calling it a more "equitable" fee than property taxes. Mayor Shane McCampbell and Councilman Jon Billups both pushed back, agreeing only to discuss the matter in a future meeting. Councilwoman Annie Wilson wants the council to set aside specific time to discuss it.

"Let's not just have a conversation on how to increase revenue," McCampbell said. "That's not the only conversation that's supposed to happen around budget time. That's all we ever do. You say it's easy to accept the budget, but to me, it's easy to find more revenue and to tax the people. It gets old for them. It gets frustrating, and it's getting tough to live."

There is pushback against the idea in general because of rising costs, but a few points are more specific. Some decry that the fee is a way to pull tax dollars from non-profit entities that many see as worthy of exemption.

Others point out that property taxes scale with the amount of property owned, but that a utility tax treats low-income renters the same as wealthy real estate developers.

Others still, such as Billups, point out that the absence of a utility tax can bring businesses to town, and implementing one can keep them away.

Rinker himself owns about a dozen rental properties in Burlington. About 75 percent of his tenants pay utilities, he said. Asked about how his proposed policy would cut his own taxes while raising his tenants bills, he said the increased costs of the utility bills he does pay — at his home, properties and office building — would offset whatever savings he would get. He also said he installed new insulation, among other utility bill aids, at his rental properties this year.

"That's not why I'm doing this," Rinker said. "I'm not doing this so that my tax bill is less. I'm doing this because I don't want to have to worry about eventually raising property taxes."

As for the timing, Rinker argues that waiting even a year would negate the worth of the fee because it would delay the revenue. Iowa residents tend to only support such a tax in dire times. The budget forecasts that one is coming in just a few years.

Paying to add the item to a ballot cost the city $5,588 in 2013. Costs would likely be comparable to do it again, according to the Des Moines County Auditor's office.