A vote today in Jefferson County could give Iowa its first new city in 19 years. About 60 members of the Maharishi transcendental meditation movement are voting on creating their own city in the northern unincorporated area of Fairfield. The area already includes some housing developments and would be called Vedic City. Fairfield Mayor Bob Rassmussen says it’s not big issue for his city as he say the meditating and non-meditating communities already live a pretty parallel existence and don’t pay much attention to each other. Rassmussen says Fairfield won’t lose any tax base, because members of the proposed city only pay county taxes. He says if the new city wins a simple majority of the votes today, then organizers face the task of creating a new government and figuring out how to fund and provide services to its residents. He says with the new state fiscal year starting in July, there won’t be any time for the new city to set up any taxing authority.
