Mayoral candidate Corbett releases 4-point 'flood-assistance' plan; says incentives to build homes should go to flood victims to build on individual 'infill' lots, not just developers

Mayoral candidate Ron Corbett on Wednesday said City Hall should consider handing out homebuilding incentives directly to individual flood victims who want to replace a flood-ruined home with a new one.

Corbett's suggestion came on a day when the City Council is considering steering up to $2.3 million in city tax dollars as incentives to developers who want to build an 81-home development along Zika Avenue NW across from the Ellis Golf Course. City Council member Chuck Wieneke has said that the cost of the homes even with incentives in the proposed Sugar Creek development might prevent any flood victim from buying one.

Corbett did not comment on the 81-home idea, but said, “Let's give people the same incentives we provide developers.”

He noted that the City Council believes strongly in so-called “infill” development. There's no better infill development than helping flood victims rebuild on available lots near where they had been living, he said.

On Wednesday, Corbett also called on the City Council to figure out a way to abate the property taxes of flood victims rather than waiting for the Linn County Board of Supervisors to do something. He said the council should have worked on tax abatement during its budget sessions in March and April rather than, he said, “pushing through new ways to raise taxes.”

In what he called his four-point “Flood Victim Assistance Plan,” Corbett also urged City Hall to start spending the revenue from the local-option sales tax, which it began receiving in late May.

Ninety percent of the estimated $18 million in annual sales tax revenue is set aside for flood-recovery housing buyouts and other flood-recovery housing needs, but buyouts are still a few months away. Federal money will pay for most of the expected 1,300 buyouts, but the council wants to use local-option sales tax revenue to make sure all the properties are bought out.

Corbett also called for City Hall to create a “Healthy Homes” check-up program to make sure flood-related mold hasn't reappeared.