by Matt Marquardt –
MASON CITY – Citing the looming possibility of budget shortfalls if commercial property tax rates are cut at the state level, the Mason City Council is zeroing in on the Mason City Human Rights Department and Commission for possible cutbacks.
At a work session held Thursday afternoon at City Hall, Mason City Human Rights officials answered questions and made two presentations to the council after the council called the work session as part of a goal it set to better understand how the department and commission work.
Human Rights Commissioner Kathy Gaines did most of the speaking to the council, as she explained how the commission handles cases brought before it. The council asked questions throughout the presentations, which went on for about 90 minutes.
City Council member Scott Tornquist told Gaines that he wanted detailed financials on how the commission and department is funded. He explained that the city may be facing massive budget cuts if commercial property tax rates are cut by the state government and all city expenses will be scrutinized. City Administrator Brent Trout enlightened the council, saying that a cumulative $200,000 each year could be lost from the city’s budget if the tax cuts take place, meaning, $200,000 the first year the cuts begin, $400,000 the next year, and so on and so forth as the new rates are phased in.
Tornquist was most interested in how the department and commission would function if employment issues were not handled here locally. The commission is required by law, Gaines said, to allow anyone to file a complaint based on a “protected class” basis, meaning discrimination that may have taken place based on age, sex, gender, familial status, race, etc, by a landlord, employer or others. The commission must then determine if the case has merit by conducting fact-finding.
The commission has handled 115 new employment cases since 2010. The commission has closed 129 employment cases since 2010, and 813 cases have been closed since 1992. Since 2010, 13 employment cases have been resolved resulting in the recovery of monetary damages totaling $191,010.02. A total of $1,785,551.84 has been awarded to claimants since 1992.
If employment discrimination cases were not handled here in Mason City, citizens would need to take those cases to the state office in Des Moines.
“I do believe without exception that we need a Mason City Human Rights Commission,” Tornquist claimed. “I agree without condition that we need to take care of housing-related issues,” he said. “My question is based solely on employment-related issues.”
Tornquist asked for financial numbers by the middle of this December, and said that any changes or “scope of services” changes to the commission and the department, based on information that he says he does not yet have, would be “made over time.”
“We need to have a laundry list of potentials,” Tornquist said, “of cuts to city services… so it’s not punitive.”
Gaines told Tornquist that the commission would still be required to investigate employment issues.
“Why does Mason City have to investigate employment issues or face a lawsuit?” Tornquist asked. “What I don’t want to do is make this combative,” Tornquist told Gaines.
Human Rights Department Director Lionel Foster told Tornquist that most of the funding to run the department and commission comes from the Federal Government. “The operating expenses that we get are generally from the Federal Government,” Foster told Tornquist. The city does contribute funds to run the department and commission.
The council will be moving into its annual budget cycle later in November, where the city’s departments bring forward their budget needs and the city’s finance department offers numbers and financial data to the council in order to make determinations for a vote on a final budget next year.
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