Corbett says Cedar Rapids will have to fight harder for state CAT funds

CEDAR RAPIDS - Prospects for the city's proposal to secure $8 million in state Vision Iowa Community Attraction & Tourism (CAT) funds for its Convention Complex, library and the NewBo City Market have dimmed with Gov. Terry Branstad's line-item veto this week of $10 million in program funding, Mayor Ron Corbett said Thursday.

“The veto is going to make it very challenging for all the Vision Iowa projects,” Corbett said.

The city had submitted its $8 million proposal to the Vision Iowa Board at the start of the year to help fund three building projects on or near what the city calls its Third Street Arts, Cultural and Entertainment District. Of the $8 million, $5 million was to go the Convention Complex project and $1.5 million to the new library and the same amount to the NewBo City Market project.

Corbett on Thursday said the city likely will focus its request on securing CAT funds for the market now that the Vision Iowa Board will have less money to hand out with the governor's veto.

In February, the Vision Iowa Board suspended new applications for CAT funding due to questions about future funding, though the city of Cedar Rapids had submitted its application before the suspension.

Alaina Santizo, Vision Iowa/CAT program manager, on Thursday noted that legislative action before this year had positioned the CAT program to have $12 million in the fiscal year that began July 1 and an additional $12 million for the next fiscal year.

However, Santizo reported that legislation passed this year reduced the amount to $5.32 million for the current fiscal year and raised it to $15 million in the next fiscal year. Branstad's line-item veto this week reduced the next fiscal year's allocation to $5 million.

In his letter to the Iowa Secretary of State this week, Branstad said his own “recommended budget” did not include an additional $10 million for the program in the next fiscal year and so he removed it via veto.

Santizo said the CAT program currently has on hand about $190,000 from the fiscal year that ended June 30 to go with the $5.32 million of new money for this fiscal year and $5 million for the next fiscal year. She noted, too, that the new state law also can provide the CAT program with up to an additional $2 million this year if the revenue from gambling operations in the state exceeds estimates.

She said the Vision Iowa Board now has CAT applications from 10 communities, including Cedar Rapids, with requests for $19.2 million in grants. She said the Vision Iowa Board likely will analyze those applications first before reopening the CAT application process to other communities.

Corbett said he and Cedar Rapids representatives intend to be at the Vision Iowa Board meeting in August to press the city's case for CAT funding.

“I'm glad our application is in,” the mayor said. “Now we'll really have to work hard to get some funding.”

Corbett said the CAT program has benefitted communities big and small in Iowa for several years, but he added that it and the Vision Iowa programs are products of the two Democratic governors who proceeded Branstad.

“It's probably just one of those casualties that wasn't something that the governor had any strong affinity toward,' Corbett said.