Move could help farmers, other small business owners.
Iowa small businesses may soon have better access to high-speed Internet if legislation supporting its expansion is passed.
House File 641, which was introduced by Gov. Terry Branstad’s office and recently passed the Iowa House, would create a property tax relief grant program to help Internet service providers offset the cost of investing in the infrastructure for broadband, or high-speed Internet, across the state. Companies who participate would be able to seek a 10-year property tax exemption, and those who put in 90 percent of the cost of building out their broadband infrastructure could qualify for federal money to cover the remaining 10 percent.
“High-functioning access to broadband is important in retaining businesses in our communities,” says Kristin Failor, NFIB’s Iowa state director. “There has been a push for many years to extend high bandwidth to the rural communities in order to preserve and attract new businesses to the small communities. Iowa is a predominantly rural state, and our small towns have been hemorrhaging businesses, and the populations have been dwindling as a result. With the increase of work-from-home businesses and online retail, it’s more important than ever that broadband is provided across the state.”
Failor adds that farmers, who represent a large portion of NFIB/Iowa’s membership, also need high bandwidth to monitor livestock facilities for proper temperature and security.
Jerry Melick, president of independent telecommunications company Liberty Communications, says high taxes have so far been a significant hindrance to expanding its broadband coverage. Until Branstad signed a comprehensive property tax reform bill last year, Iowa telecommunication companies were paying three-and-a-half times the commercial property tax rates, he says.
While Melick isn’t sure HF 641’s grant program will be enough to offset costs, given the sheer size of investment necessary across the state, he knows how important broadband expansion is.
“The rapid expansion of technology into cloud-based software, data backups, and business-to-business and machine-to-machine communications can assist small businesses of every kind compete effectively against large national chains,” he says. “If Iowa’s small businesses are going to grow and contribute more in the future to Iowa’s overall economy, they simply have to have access to the Internet that is competitive and comparable to surrounding states and our urban centers. Parallels between the road network constructed in the late 19th and 20th centuries to today’s fiber-optic network are eerily similar in their contributions to economic growth for rural areas of Iowa.”
