Groups Line Up for Urbandale Hotel Tax Money

Eleven Urbandale or metro groups will ask the City Council for money Tuesday night.

In three-minute presentations, the groups - which range from youth sports leagues to the city's chamber of commerce - each will make a pitch for a small share of an estimated $1 million in hotel and motel taxes collected from customers at Urbandale inns.

Together, the groups are asking for just over $158,000.

Last year, $425,000 in hotel-motel taxes went into the city's general fund budget, another $700,000 was donated for various cultural and tourism groups such as BRAVO, Principal Park baseball stadium and the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau, said City Manager A.J. Johnson.

Johnson said the presentations are part of the city's budget process. The city has asked each group to specify how supporting them might generate more visitors to Urbandale.

However, he said "the council can give whatever amount it chooses" to whatever group it wants.

Only one group is making a new request. This year for the first time, the J-Hawk Soccer Club is asking for $2,500 to purchase a used riding lawn mower to mow the North Walnut Creek soccer fields. Club president Matt Carver said the group spent about $2,000 to water, fertilize and plant grass seed on the fields last year. 

A local business loaned them the riding mower and now the group wants to buy it.

Here are the other written requests submitted to the city:

• Downtown Urbandale Neighborhood Association, $500: The money would be used to send out two newsletters to the group's members and to continue to provide activities at the during the city's July 4 parade.

• Urbandale Community School District, $3,500: The district would put the money toward the estimated cost of $5,200 to install a new sound system in the band room, as well as buying $330 of piano books.

• Urbandale Sports Association, $4,000: The association, which operates the city's adult softball league and operates Friday Fest throughout the summer, would spend the money to offset the costs of multiple regional softball tournaments. 

• Urbandale Chamber of Commerce, $8,000: The chamber is seeking to revamp its web site to ensure it comes up in searches and is easy to navigate. Five thousand dollars of the money also would support an economic development bus tour of Urbandale next June.

• Urbandale Soccer Club, $8,000: The club serves between 600 and 800 youth soccer players every year and is seeking the money to add drainage tiles to certain fields at the Urbandale Soccer Complex that often have standing water after light rainfall.

• Polk County Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden: $8,605.12. The volunteer group operates the demonstration garden near Valerius Elementary School and wants to replace the wood-chip pathways with various hard-surfaced options that could be examples for visiting gardeners. The current path is difficult to navigate for people in wheelchairs, parents pushing strollers, or those with unsure footing.

• Greater Dallas County Development Alliance, $12,000: This represents $2 for every Urbandale resident living in Dallas County, wrote executive director Linda Schaudt. The group's goal is to promote economic development in the area of Urbandale that is in Dallas County. 

• Urbandale Girls Recreation Association, $16,000: The group is a volunteer group that provides volleyball, basketball, softball and track leagues for Urbandale girls. The group hopes to use the money for half the materials cost for new batting cages, dugout repairs and the The group wants to increase the number of its tournaments that bring in teams from across the Midwest and from Canada.

• Greater Des Moines Partnership, $25,000: The partnership is asking the city to continue its annual $25,000 contribution to the organization that promotes the metro area to corporations and site-selection consultants.

• Urbandale Community Action Network, $70,000: This volunteer network is seeking $20,000 to help operate the , which has grown exponentially in three years; and $50,000 for other UCAN programs such as Caring Corps, Friends of the the Parks and the Leadership Initiative.