110 percent no jackpot for flood victims

I was amazed at the statements in a Jan. 20 letter regarding the flood buyouts (“110 percent payments make no fiscal sense”). It was stated (among other things): “There is no fiscally responsible reason to pay victims of the flood more than 100 percent of the pre-flood value for each property buyout. Stop trying to railroad the good taxpayers of Cedar Rapids into some ill-conceived giveaway.”

Also that same day, someone else wrote

“110 percent buyouts are above market value.”

In September 2008, when buyouts were first discussed, an official list was published with the list of people requesting buyouts and the fair market value. These values listed were correct at 110 percent; I checked several. For the naysayers: Would you want to sell your home for the assessed value on the tax rolls? Has anyone thought to check a multi-list for home sales to see how they compared to assessed values before the flood?

As far as saying this is a giveaway, that is a slap in the face to all flood victims. Many of these people are, after 19 months, still paying mortgages and insurance on homes waiting to be bought out and demolished plus paying mortgages, insurance and taxes on their current residence.

Patti Koch

Oklahoma City

(Formerly Cedar Rapids)