Financial disclosure reports filed ahead of Local Option Sales Tax vote

CEDAR RAPIDS - The citizen group CREST, which is campaigning to convince voters on Tuesday to extend the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax for 10 years for flood protection, has raised $92,630 in campaign contributions, according to a financial disclosure report filed with the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board.

We Can Do Better CR, a citizen group opposed to the tax extension, has raised $1,274, according to its disclosure report.

CREST (Cedar Rapids Extended Sales Tax ) chairman Gary Ficken on Friday said the committee's fundraising total reflects how important flood protection is to the people, businesses and organizations that contributed to the campaign.

Those contributing include Cedar Rapids' largest employers.

"It's important to the individuals who have given money and it's important to the businesses that they are headquartered in a city that has a bright future and that can learn from (the flood of) 2008 to protect itself," Ficken said. "If these companies want to grow and prosper in this town, they need to have a city that has that future looking bright so they can retain and recruit new employees. It's tough to recruit employees to an incredibly damaged city."

CREST, a core group of about 20 local residents, amassed some 5,000 signatures to bring about the March 6 tax-extension vote.

CREST has called itself a "grass-roots" effort. It has said it is committed to running a lower-profile campaign than the high-visibility, big-advertising campaign run last spring by the Protect Cedar Rapids Committee. Protect Cedar Rapids raised $450,950 before a May 3 vote to extend the city's local-option sales tax for 20 years for flood protection, streets and property-tax relief. The measure lost by 221 votes out of 31,932 cast.

CREST shortened the tax extension to 10 years and earmarked all the revenue for flood protection.

Of the $92,630 it has raised, CREST still has $51,355 on hand to use in the campaign, according to the report filed Thursday with the state office.

Those contributing include: Great America Leasing Corp., $10,000; Transamerica Life Insurance Co., $5,000; United Fire Group, $5,000; CRST International Inc., $5,000; Penford Products Co., $5,000; St. Luke's Hospital, $5,000; Diamond V Mills, $5,000; Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce (now part of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance), $5,000; Cedar Rapids Area Association of Realtors, $5,000; Acme Electric Co., $3,500; Interstate Power and Light Co., $2,500; Cedar Rapids Building Trades Council, $2,500; Bankers Trust, $2,000; TrueNorth Real Estate LC, $2,000, Wells Fargo Bank, $2,000; OPN Architects Inc., $2,000; US Bank, National Association, $2,000; Rockwell Collins, $2,000; Clark and Mary McLeod, $2,000.

We Can Do Better CR's $1,274 in contributions have come from individuals.

Eric Rosenthal, chairman of We Can Do Better CR, could not be reached Friday for comment, nor could Tim Pugh, who has been active in the fight to defeat the LOST extension.