FEMA agrees with HUD on buyouts: 107 percent of pre-flood value, mayor reports

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which last week announced it would allow the city to buy out flood-damaged properties for 107 percent of pre-flood assessed value, Mayor Ron Corbett reported Thursday.

About 100 of the buyouts will use FEMA funds, and another 1,200 or so will use HUD funds.

The FEMA funds will be used for the first buyouts, and so it was important to get a ruling from FEMA on the 107-percent figure, Corbett said.

The first buyouts could occur as soon as today.

The city had planned to pay 100 percent of pre-flood assessed value, but Corbett, upon taking office in January, pushed to raise the percentage. Both FEMA and HUD look to pay 100 percent of pre-flood market value, and a new look at city data by the City Assessor Scott Labus helped make the case that the city assessments of property in Cedar Rapids' flood-hit neighborhoods was undervalued at the time of the flood.

FEMA and HUD now have concluded that 107 percent of pre-flood assessed value in Cedar Rapids is equal to 100 percent of pre-flood market value.