A better flood protection pay plan

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Mayor Ron Corbett and Cedar Rapids leaders have come up with an innovative plan to tap state sales tax revenues to help pay for critically needed local flood prevention efforts. We support the idea.

Under the proposal, Cedar Rapids and Linn County would be allowed to keep some or all of the future growth in state sales taxes collected locally, rather than sending it to the state budget. They're calling it the Growth Reinvestment Initiative, or GRI.

For example, if you purchased one shirt at Lindale Mall this year and two shirts at the mall next year, the additional state sales tax from the second shirt would stay in Linn County. Over 20 years, according to officials, rising retail sales could generate state tax growth approaching $400 million or more.

That could provide vital funding for the city's $375 million flood protection proposal by tapping a tax we already pay and without raising taxes. It also could help persuade Congress to fund a more aggressive plan than the $98 million, east-side-only protection proposal endorsed by the Army Corps of Engineers.

It's also possible that GRI dollars could be used by Linn County for flood mitigation in other communities such as Palo and in rural areas.

The reinvestment plan is preferable to the alternatives, including a bond sale that would increase local property taxes or a yearly trip to the Statehouse to scramble for an uncertain scrap of state funding. Guaranteeing a source of state funding also means the project isn't dependent on funding from a potentially gridlocked Congress.

Still, for all its merits, the plan may prove to be a tough sell at the State Capitol.

Allowing one of the state's largest retail centers to keep sales tax growth would deprive state lawmakers of a chunk of revenue to spend on state programs, such as education, public safety and health care. That's going to meet resistance.

Also, opening the door to revenue reinvestment in Cedar Rapids may prompt lawmakers from other parts of Iowa to make a grab for their own share of sales tax revenue. All that grabbing could derail the idea.

We understand the Statehouse scramble for scarce dollars and the importance of those programs. But we hope our state leaders also realize the critical importance of protecting the state's second largest city from another catastrophic flood.

All of Iowa has a long-term economic stake in a recovered, protected Cedar Rapids. And we think that impact more than justifies a diversion of state sales tax revenues.

We know there will be an almost irresistible temptation in Des Moines to wait and see what Congress will kick in for flood protection. But we've learned the hard way in recent years that waiting for the federal government to act is not the best strategy. We'd rather depend on Iowans.