Corbett maintains that city has used sales tax revenue properly

Mayor Ron Corbett said Wednesday that it is unfair to accuse the City Council of not following the voters' wishes in the way the city to date has spent the 1-percent local-option sales tax.

Ten percent of the local-option sales tax (LOST) revenue over 63 months must go for property-tax relief, 90 percent for acquisition and rehabilitation of flood-damaged housing and to match federal funds for flood recovery and flood protection.

Corbett told The Gazette's editorial board on Wednesday that he's heard the accusation about how the tax is being spent, and he said he will work to explain the city's case in the weeks and months leading up to a special election on May 3 to extend the tax for 20 more years for flood protection and street repair.

“People say, ‘They didn't spend it on what they promised they would spend it on,'” the mayor said. “But they never say what we're not spending it on that they think we should be spending it on.”

Corbett noted that the city has received some $130 million to date in federal dollars to acquire flood-damaged properties, a sum that covers nearly all the cost of buying out 1,300 homes and 100 commercial properties. The city has used some LOST funds to fill in acquisition gaps, but not much. Should the city have used LOST funds and not federal funds? he asked.

“So maybe people don't understand the degree to which the federal government has come through (for us),” the mayor said.

The city, he said, is using LOST funds for the rehabilitation of flood-damaged housing, but federal and state dollars have helped carry that load, too, he said.

To date, the city has spent $29.2 million in LOST revenue from a pot that is expected to reach about $90 million over 63 months, with 10 percent of the total for property-tax relief.

Of the spending to date, $17.8 million in LOST funds has gone directly to some 1,600 homeowners to replace personal possessions lost in the 2008 flood. Another $8 million has obligated to go to renters who lost personal possessions.

“A lot of people's lives are buried at the peak of Mount Trashmore,” Corbett said of the landfill where flood-ruined possessions have ended up. “But we helped them with personal possessions. We helped them get back their life.”

To date, the city has used $2.1 million in LOST revenue for property acquisition, $3.3 million for the renovation of flood-damaged rental units and lesser amounts for smaller programs.

In total, the council has obligated $73.3 million of LOST funds, but Corbett said last month and again on Wednesday that the needs probably aren't that large for acquisition and renovation and match dollars to go directly to flood victims. As a result, the City Council said it will use some of the funds to help match federal dollars for some of the city's large flood-recovery building projects.

Corbett said the $4 million in LOST revenue that the City Council unanimously approved to match federal dollars for the city's library project squarely fits the ballot language approved by voters in March 2009.

“As I go through it, what is it that you think we should be spending (LOST) money on that we're not?” the mayor asked. “What program has the council said ‘No' to? We haven't said ‘No' to a program that has been brought to our attention. And anyone that has any other gaps out there that they would like to address, we will address them and apply revenue from the local-option sales tax, too.”

Corbett noted that the City Council-appointed LOST Oversight Committee has disagreed with the council on its decision to spend money to replace flood victims' personal possessions. The State Auditor's Office, though, has said the spending does “match” federal dollars as called for in the ballot language. In fact, the committee has since voted that the spending is appropriate for renters and has said it will revisit the earlier vote related to homeowners.