Full Legislature set to consider Cedar Rapids flood protection plan

A legislative task force wrapped up its work Thursday on a plan to help Cedar Rapids pay for a $375 million flood protection system, a plan Co-Chairman Rep. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, said offers “plenty of opportunity.”

Task force members say the plan shouldn't face partisan opposition, but legislators will have to be convinced the plan is in the best interest of not just Cedar Rapids, but the state. Cedar Rapids is seeking about $200 million over a number of years by retaining a portion of the $180 million a year in sales tax revenue Linn County sends to the state. The community has proposed committing 50 percent of a local option sales tax to the project.

“If they convince lawmakers that the floodwall is important to Iowa, to all of Iowa, then it won't be a hiccup on the way to adjournment,” House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said. “I think they've had some success making that argument with some lawmakers.”

Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, a member of the task force of six Democrats and six Republicans, believes legislators will support the plan because it's not limited to Cedar Rapids.

“I think people understand this is a need, not a want,” Hogg said. “If you want people to invest in Cedar Rapids, we have to protect that investment.”

The investment is important to the state for a variety of reasons, according to Cedar Rapids officials who say the community is an “economic engine” in the state. They point to the sales tax revenue generated from the county and make the case that the community is an important grain processing center that provide markets for farmers all over the state. Several of those processers sustained flood damage.

If there is opposition, Sen. Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, thinks it may come from lawmakers who question the precedent the legislation sets in committing state sales tax revenue to a local project.

However, he points to the criteria included in the plan, including communities approving a local funding stream such as a local option sales tax.

Another key, Hogg and Dix say, is the requirement for non-public investment. The plan calls for state and local government to spilt the cost 50-50 after federal funds have been applied to the project. The proposal would require commitments from the private sector to invest in the community.

“We want the flood protection to trigger more economic growth and reinvestment,” Hogg said. “We want the project to mobilize private sector investment behind the floodwall.”

The task force also decided to establish a nine member board to oversee the flood mitigation projects along with the local county boards or city councils. In addition to four public members appointed by the governor, representatives of the state ag secretary, treasurer, Department of Natural Resources, Homeland Security and Finance Authority would sit on the board.