Linn County in post-flood mode, supervisor says

Linn County is in its post-flood era, Supervisor Ben Rogers said this afternoon.

“Linn County is moving forward and moving on from the flood,” Rogers, this year's county board chairman, told his audience during his State of the County address to a League of Woman Voters-sponsored luncheon at the Kirkwood Hotel.

While much rebuilding remains, including the county's five major flood recovery projects, “we must talk and think beyond recovery,” said Rogers, a Cedar Rapids Democrat representing the county's Third District. “These are the signs of progress. We are sending a message to the Midwest that Linn County is a thriving, happy place.”

County government contributes to that through its day-to-day service delivery and conservative fiscal policies, Roger said. He noted county taxpayers will directly fund just $13 million of the county's $80 million in post-flood construction projects, thanks to contributions from other government sources, with the county's borrowing for its share is at an average interest rate of just 3 percent, thanks partly to its AAA bond rating.

“Linn County's conservative fiscal management has brought us our good standing and allowed us to weather a significant natural disaster,” Rogers said.

Rogers said the supervisors' adoption of a “budgeting for outcomes” approach to writing its new budget “wasn't perfect, but I think that what we have is a more efficient budget. The results were eye-opening.”

Rogers defended the county's use of project labor agreements on its flood recovery projects. Gov. Terry Branstad has since banned the practice, in which the county agrees to pay prevailing wages in exchange for a no-strike guarantee,  for projects receiving state assistance.

The practice “is our only tool to ensure local workers are working on our projects,” said Rogers. “The results have been fantastic.”

Rogers said the county's five construction projects are meeting their budgets and schedules, with 75 percent local contractors.

Rogers urged rural residents to vote in favor of the 20-year local-option sales tax extension in the May 3 referendum. If the question fails in unincorporated Linn County but passes in Cedar Rapids, rural residents would pay the tax when shopping in the city, but wouldn't see local benefits, he said.

Supervisors have voted to spend half the rural area's share – estimated at $5 million a year – on road projects, with the balance split between property-tax relief and conservation projects.

“The state of our county is poised for greater things to come,” said Rogers.