The Altoona City Council voted this week to send Bravo of Greater Des Moines a notice of intent to withdraw from the 28E agreement for funding the nonprofit organization that awards grants to nearly 90 arts, culture and heritage organizations in the region.

The council voted 3-2 at its meeting Monday to issue the notice of intent to end its agreement with Bravo.

Under the agreement, partner communities of Bravo pay a portion of their hotel-motel tax revenue to the organization to support arts and culture in the metro.

Bravo receives at least 90% of its funding each year from the hotel-motel tax receipts of its 17 partners, including 16 cities and Polk County. Each member has a representative who sits on Bravo’s board of directors.

Altoona City Administrator Randy Pierce said in an email that the state’s cap limiting how much property tax revenue cities can keep — approved during the 2023 legislative session — is forcing cities to review their spending.

“The state’s property tax cap has a big hand in this decision,” Pierce said in an email. “The council is being forced to look at all its expenditures and programs and try to find ways to keep costs down or they will be forced to cut programs and/or services in our community.”

Altoona Mayor Dean O’Connor said the state’s decision — which caps property tax revenue at 2% or 3% depending on the level of growth a city is experiencing — will hurt cities’ ability to fund services needed for growth and force cities to look for ways to put money into their general fund.

And looking at funding given to Bravo is part of that effort, O’Connor said.

He said the amount Altoona gives to Bravo has grown to about $600,000. The city has given about $5.1 million to Bravo over the years, and the mayor said the city has received $52,000 in grants, resulting in about a 1% return on its investment.

O’Connor said Altoona supports arts and culture but would like control over how its tax dollars are spent.

“We just don’t support everything Bravo does and we would like to have control of the decisions of our money and spend it where we think it should go,” he said. “At the end of the day we need money in our fund. We want to do those things, but we’ll always support the big things that the original intent of Bravo was.”

He cited the Blank Park Zoo, the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, the Civic Center and the Art Center as examples of the the eight or 10 organizations Altoona would support, but believes the city should control the allocation of its money to decide where it goes.

“Instead of giving [Bravo] $600,000, how about we keep that $600,000, we give the money back to the big ones we think we need to, and we’ll figure out what to do in our community for arts and culture,” he said. ”This is really a play for us to have money in our general fund, and we’re going to need that, and if the state doesn’t change [its cap] we’re going to be struggling. It’s going to be scary for growing communities.”

Sally Dix, president of Bravo, said she did not know the item to send a notice of intent to withdraw from the 28E agreement was on the agenda before Monday’s meeting.

Dix said the notice sets in motion an 18-month conversation with Altoona and that if Altoona withdraws from the funding agreement it would not take effect until July 1, 2026.

“It’s an opportunity for us to have a conversation with the city of Altoona and understand what their concerns are and to make sure that they fully understand and appreciate the role that Bravo plays and the impact that we have,” Dix said.

In its latest funding cycle, Bravo awarded more than $5.1 million through its operation and public art grant programs.

According to a news release, Bravo awarded more than $4.9 million through the operating grant program that will support 89 nonprofit groups across the Des Moines metro through 2025. Bravo also awarded a total of $200,000 in public art grants to six communities, including Altoona, which received $20,000 for its Welcome to Olde Town mural.

Since 2006, Bravo has invested more than $65 million in Central Iowa’s arts, culture and heritage community.

Dix said Bravo is in regular contact with its partner communities and is sensitive to the financial pressures they may be facing.

“We recognize that cities are facing immense pressures right now and we appreciate the opportunity to be partners with all our communities in making sure that their investments are an accountable use of public tax dollars,” she said. “Bravo has always only existed as a regional organization and we are grateful for the opportunity to work with our communities to support all of the priorities that are important to our region and look forward to continuing the conversation over the next 18 months.”

O’Connor said Altoona is trying to be proactive in managing its money, and left the door open to continuing a relationship with Bravo.

“We’re going to need this money, so just do this now because the worst time to deal with a financial crisis is when you’re deep into it, and we’re trying to make decisions now,” he said. “It takes 18 months to get out. Things can change in that 18 months. We can negotiate something different or whatever, but at the end of the day, the city is going to need money, and these little extras, we’ll call them, that make the community great and do a lot of good things, maybe we cut those things out.”