Another loss for LOST

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By Steve Gravelle and Patrick Hogan

CEDAR RAPIDS - Lisa Kuzela slid out of her booth at Buffalo Wild Wings Tuesday night to get a closer look at the results on the television.

“Is that saying that we won?” she asked.

Her voice rose to a shout. “We did it again. We beat them.”

What started out as a low-key gathering at the Edgewood Road Buffalo Wild Wings of about six members of We Can Do Better CR, an organization opposing an extension of the 1 percent local-option sales tax for 10 years beyond 2014, turned into a victory celebration as the measure was defeated by 579 votes, 14,024 to 13,445.

Kuzela, who managed the campaign against the tax, characterized her group's campaign as an uphill struggle against an opponent with more resources and funding.

“We had half the money and half the time, but I had faith that if the voters were educated, they would do the right thing,” she said.

At a subdued gathering at the CSPS Hall in the New Bohemia neighborhood, Mayor Ron Corbett said city officials have some hard thinking to do now that the tax extension has failed for a second time.

The city had earmarked the $200 million it would have received from the tax extension for flood protection on both sides of the Cedar River.

“This council and the previous council have been pretty firm about protecting both sides of the river and not just protecting the east side,” a disappointed Corbett said. “We're going to have some discussions about this now.”

The tax extension carried only 10 Cedar Rapids precincts and 19 of 65 in the metro bloc of Cedar Rapids, Fairfax, Hiawatha, Marion and Robins.

Marion would have used most of the funds it would have received for street and sewer work. Robins would have spent the money on street, water and sewer construction and other community projects. Hiawatha and Fairfax would have used the money for “any lawful purpose.”

Close to May vote

Tuesday night's margin is statistically close to the 51-to-49-percent rejection last May, but extension opponents picked up another 358 votes. A direct comparison isn't possible because redistricting changed precinct boundaries, but there were 4,462 fewer votes cast Tuesday in the metro bloc.

Turnout was 22.4 percent of registered voters.

“It hasn't been resoundingly defeated,” Corbett said. “It's been close, so obviously the community is either divided on whether we should have flood protection or not, or they're divided on how we should pay for flood protection.”

Rural residents passed the extension by 42 votes, but its defeat in the metro bloc of Cedar Rapids, Fairfax, Marion, Robins, and Hiawatha means the tax will be collected only in the unincorporated precincts - a huge cut in revenue for rural roads, property tax relief and conservation projects.

The Army Corps of Engineers is planning a system of flood walls and levees on the river's east bank near downtown Cedar Rapids. Tax extension backers argued city and state funding is needed for similar protection on the west side, which doesn't qualify for federal funding under the Corps' cost-benefit formula.

“The Corps is moving ahead,” Corbett said. “It just seems odd to only protect one side of the river and not the other. Certainly everyone knows that the federal government can't support west-side protection because of their formula, that we needed local dollars along with state dollars to help build the west side.”

“I'm a little stunned at how a community wants to move forward without protecting everyone, but the voters have spoken,” said Gary Ficken, chairman of Cedar Rapids Extended Sales Tax (CREST), which worked to pass the tax extension.

“They certainly at some point will have to make a decision,” said Linda Seger, president of the Northwest Neighbors Neighborhood Association and one of the first to return to her flooded neighborhood. “Maybe not in my lifetime, but sooner or later someone's going to have to put a wall on both sides.”

State funding plan

The defeat will make it harder for local lawmakers to make the case for a flood-mitigation funding plan moving through the state Legislature. The measure, passed unanimously in the Senate and up for final House approval as early as next week, would appropriate up to $30 million a year for 10 years to match local and federal funding. Local projects like Cedar Rapids' could receive up to $15 million a year.

“(The defeat) is going to make it a little harder to get that passed,” Corbett said. “That doesn't mean that that bill's dead. We're still going to work to get it passed, but it would have been a little easier had we had a victory here tonight.”

Seger said the extension's opponents should lobby state lawmakers and work with the City Council.

“I just hope the people who said they can do better will come forward and offer a better plan,” she said, referring to We Can Do Better CR.

Counterproposal

The We Can Do Better CR group already has begun to circulate a counterproposal. It addresses some of the group's most common concerns, relating to a lack of specific language on the ballot on what money would be spent on.

Their version of the petition, which was being passed around Tuesday night, calls for a sales tax to be spent on specific projects, such as flood protection for the east side of the Cedar River, dredging the river and securing the city's water supply.

Eric Rosenthal, the group's chair, said he hopes to gain enough signatures to call for a summer vote on the proposal.

“We're not an anti-tax group,” he said. “We just want to make sure there is proper accountability for what's a flood project.”

Distrust of the city was a common thread among the celebrating opponents Tuesday night. Many, including Kuzela and Rosenthal, accused the city of planning to use a loophole in Iowa law to spend extra money collected past the base year on non-flood related projects. The prospect of a local-option sales tax funding downtown projects such as a downtown amphitheater or rebuilding the city's ground transportation center was mentioned several times.

Others, such as Bill Dahlsten, called into question the very idea of comprehensive flood protection, judging by his own experience with floods in Cedar Rapids and Burlington.

“You might be able to hold it off, but he who defends few defends nothing,” he said.

We Can Do Better CR's petition for a vote can be found at http://www.wecandobettercr.com/Documentation/Petition_423B.1Cover_Letter.pdf