Look for Cedar Rapids sales-tax extension petition drive

CEDAR RAPIDS - A grass-roots group formed a month ago says it is intensifying its campaign to secure sufficient signatures to bring to a vote in March a scaled-down, more-focused plan to extend the city's local-option sales tax.

Flood survivor and florist Al Pierson, who is one of 20 members of CREST - Cedar Rapids Extended Sales Tax - said on Friday that members would be attending football games, festivals and farmers markets in the weeks ahead as they work to obtain the 4,032 signatures necessary to require the Linn County Board of Supervisors to return the sales-tax question to the ballot.

Pierson said CREST's goal is to get more than the required number of signatures to make the point that a majority of Cedar Rapids voters will support a 10-year tax extension with all the money to be used to help build a flood-protection system for both sides of the city.

In fact, he said some in the CREST group were among voters who voted down the tax extension on May 3 because it was for 20 years and called for spending money on roads and property-tax relief as well as for flood protection.

"Twenty years was just too long for a lot of people," Pierson said. "I think the shorter term and the focus entirely on the flood is going to make the difference. At least that's my hope."

He said the plan is to have sufficient signatures in place by November, which is sufficient time for the Linn County supervisors to set a vote for March 6, 2012.

The vote on May 3 to extend the local-option sales tax in Cedar Rapids and the metro block of cities, which vote as one on sales tax issues, failed by 221 votes out of almost 32,000 votes cast.

City officials were hoping for approval of the measure so they could make a case to federal and state officials to help in paying to build a both-sides-of-the-river system of flood protection to the level of the city's 2008 flood.