Building Trades Council backs extension of local-option sales tax for Cedar Rapids flood protection

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Building Trades Council on Friday endorsed a 20-year extension of the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax.

Residents vote May 3 on the tax-extension question.

Scott Smith, president of the building trades council, on Friday said the council backed the 1-percent tax when voters put it in place in 2009 for 63 months, and the council is 100 percent behind the tax extension now.

If the extension passes, the city will use 50 percent of the revenue to help pay for a flood-protection system that adds to a proposal of the Army Corps of Engineers and would protect both sides of the city from the Cedar River. The Corps plan calls for protection on a portion of the east side of the river.

“We live here, work here and give here and sincerely support rebuilding and protection our entire community,” Smith said.

Smith said the local-option sales tax, which also is paid by those who work, shop and visit in Cedar Rapids and live elsewhere, is a “fair” way to generate tax revenue from people who use the city and benefit from what the city has to offer.

The local tax extension, Smith said, also will help the city make its case to both the federal and state governments that they, too, should provide financial support for the city's flood-protection system.

“Let's not pass this off to future generations,” Smith said. “Now is the time to demonstrate that we are willing to personally support the common-sense commitment to build a flood-protection system.”

Most of the communities in Linn County as well as the unincorporated area of the county will vote on the tax-extension question on May 3. Each jurisdiction has plans to use the revenue from the tax differently. Cedar Rapids will use 40 percent to fix existing streets and 10 percent for property-tax relief in addition to 50 percent for flood protection.