Organizers of the Yes to Destiny sales tax campaign say efforts to obtain enough signatures to get the referendum on the ballot are going well, despite their 11th-hour appeal for additional volunteers to collect signatures.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership last week extended an offer of T-shirts, drawings for concert tickets and even a chance to throw out the first ball at an Iowa Cubs game to encourage its members to gather signatures prior to the March 27 deadline. More than 9,200 signatures from Dallas, Polk and Warren county residents are needed to get the proposed 1 percent local option sales tax on those counties’ ballots for a July 10 special election.

Cyndi Fisher, a campaign spokeswoman, said offering prizes as incentives is a “standard campaign   practice.”

“People are more inclined to get involved if there are incentives,”   she said.

Fisher said it’s difficult to estimate how many signatures have been collected so far because they’re being gathered through so many different organizations. However, she said that all indications are that it’s “been going extremely well.”

“We’ve built a really good, strong grassroots campaign,” she said. “We have talked to over 200 groups. The more we are out in front of people, the more we find they are in favor of it and understand the need for it.”

Partnership officials are touting the 10-year sales tax as a means for providing property tax relief to residents, as well as for generating additional revenue for recreational and cultural attractions in Greater Des Moines. However, some officials in West Des Moines and Dallas County are concerned that an equalization formula in the plan unduly benefits Des Moines over the western suburbs and rural communities.

Fisher said she has not heard of any instances of any city council members declining to meet with Partnership representatives to discuss the issue. She said the campaign has made presentations to each city council, and in some cases officials have made return visits at a council’s request.

Proponents estimate the new tax would generate $75 million in new revenue in 2008, a third of which would be distributed to local governments in Dallas, Polk and Warren counties to provide dollar-for-dollar property tax reductions. Another third would fund a tri-county regional authority that would put money into recreational trails projects and arts and cultural organizations. Communities would have the discretion to use the final third for additional property tax relief, debt reduction or to fund essential services or capital   improvements.

In addition to persuading voters to approve the referendum, Yes to Destiny is asking each of the 45 municipalities and three county governments to buy into its plan for distributing the proceeds of the tax. Currently, 27 of those governments have adopted resolutions in support of entering into 28E agreements to participate in the distribution plan.

West Des Moines is among the larger communities whose council has yet to vote on the Destiny plan. Ted Ohmart, a West Des Moines city council member, said he is opposed to the plan because of its complexity and its reliance on an appointed body to decide how some of the funds are distributed to projects.

“I’m just trying to figure out how much Des Moines is going to benefit from that 34 percent; how much they’re going to get off the top before money goes to trails,” he said. “I just think it’s confusing and the average taxpayer is not going to understand it, and that the money should go back to the cities it came from.”

Another West Des Moines council member, Robert Parks, said: “There are quite a few people I’ve spoken with who are concerned about the allocation of the proceeds. It’s something that needs to be thoroughly explained and presented to the citizenry.”

Dallas County Supervisor Mark Hanson said officials in several rural county communities have expressed concerns to him about the Destiny plan to send one-third of the funds generated by the new tax to a regional authority to fund projects outside of the county.

“There are about 90 counties that have this tax, and they weren’t told by anyone how they’re going to divide that up,” he said.

Hanson said he has nearly completed a separate 28E agreement that he’s drafting at the request of those communities. An allocation that’s currently under discussion is to have 40 percent go to property tax reduction, 40 percent back to the local governments and 20 percent to a   regional pool.

“I haven’t heard anyone in municipal government that doesn’t see (the 1 percent tax) as a nice way to augment local revenues,” he said.

Ultimately, Hanson said, each community will need to decide on theballot language that will most likely be approved by voters, he said, whether it’s the Destiny plan or some other allocation.

Funding for the referendum campaign has so far come largely from some of Greater Des Moines’ largest companies. The fund-raising effort, which was put on hold when the referendum was postponed last July, was recently relaunched, said Suku Radia, Yes to Destiny’s treasurer.

The two largest donations to date, totaling $100,000, were contributed by Wells Fargo Bank Iowa and Wells Fargo Financial. The campaign, which has raised $265,000 in operating funds, has spent nearly $200,000 since last summer to pay consultants and canvassers and to meet other administrative expenses, according to a campaign finance report it filed with the state in January.

Of the 17 entities that have contributed to the campaign, several companies joined Wells Fargo in contributing $25,000 or more, including R&R Realty Group Inc., Knapp Properties Inc., Allied Insurance, Meredith Corp. and the Mid-America Group. Meredith and Mid-America reclaimed their $25,000 contributions after the campaign organizers postponed the referendum. Representatives from both companies said the contributions will be reinstated if the process moves forward to the voting booth.

Each participating community must devise a plan for how it will use its discretionary portion of the sales tax receipts.

Carlisle Mayor Ruth Randleman, who co-chairs the Yes to Destiny campaign as Warren County’s representative, said her city has tried to recognize the interests of residents who don’t own property. In its spending plan, the city has divided its share into thirds, with equal amounts going to public safety, further property tax reduction and infrastructure needs.

“So far, when people learn about it, they seem to understand that for us, it’s a real win-win situation,” she said. “Personally, I’m encouraged by some of the questions that have come up and have been answered. If we keep the ball rolling, it’s really looking favorable.”