Cedar Rapids gets double dose of good flood-related news

CEDAR RAPIDS - The city's efforts to recover from and protect against a repeat of the 2008 flood took big steps forward Tuesday on the federal and state fronts:

• City Hall learned its nearly two-year pursuit of $13.8 million in federal disaster payments for the city's flood-ruined hydroelectric plant at the 5-in-1 bridge has paid off.

• The Iowa House, on a 76-23 vote, sent to Gov. Terry Branstad a funding bill to help communities like Cedar Rapids build and repair their flood-protection systems.

The governor “has given no indication” that he opposes the legislation, said Mayor Ron Corbett.

“We should celebrate the fact that we were able to get the Legislature, in such a bipartisan way during an election year, to pass legislation that helps out Cedar Rapids .., (and) the whole state,” Corbett said.

The state legislation, which was previously approved by the Senate and in large measure designed by Cedar Rapids city leaders, establishes a program that allows communities with local matching dollars to tap into the incremental increase in state sales tax collected in their communities for use in fixing or building flood protection systems.

Corbett and other city leaders hoped to obtain significant state dollars through the funding mechanism to help the city build flood protection on the west side of the Cedar River to go with the Army Corps of Engineers' plans and expected federal funds to build flood protection on the east side of the river.

However, voters in Cedar Rapids turned down a ballot measure to extend the city's local-option sales tax for 10 years to provide local matching funds, which are particularly needed for west-side flood protection.

On Tuesday, Corbett said Cedar Rapidians didn't turn down flood protection on March 6 so much as they turned down using revenue from the local-option sales tax to build it.

Now, the city will have to look how it might use other city funds to access money from the state program approved by the Iowa Legislature. By way of example, Corbett imagined that the city could look to commit a large portion of the $3 million in revenue it takes in a year from traffic enforcement cameras for 10 years to use as matching local funds to qualify for state dollars.

The legislation passed by the Iowa Legislature, Corbett said, “puts the city within range” of seeing east-side flood protection. At the same time, he said the city will not stop working to find a way for west-side flood protection.

FEMA appeal

Corbett also cheered the news Tuesday that the city's second appeal of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's denial of disaster payments for the hydroelectric plant had succeeded after a review at FEMA's headquarters in Washington.

The central point of dispute over the city's hydroelectric plant, which was disabled at the time of the 2008 flood, was whether the city, in fact, had been reviewing options to repair the plant at the time of the flood.

In its second appeal to FEMA headquarters, which was filed last May, the city was able to show that it was “moving in the direction” of fixing the plant when the flood hit, Michael Cappannari, external affairs officers at FEMA's regional office in Kansas City, Mo., said Tuesday.

Joe O'Hern, the city's flood recovery and reinvestment director, said the city now will talk to FEMA about how it can use the $13.8 million in disaster money.

The option most discussed by the city in the past has been to use the funds for an alternate improved project rather than for restoring the hydroelectric plant. The city can use 90 percent of the funds if it chooses the option of an alternate improved project, O'Hern said.

Corbett noted, however, that the city continues to have key appeals in front of FEMA with some $50 million at stake. The disputes involve money the city has paid for repairs to the incinerator at the city's Water Pollution Control plant, funding for a new incinerator and money the city has paid for debris removal from the Sinclair meatpacking site.

“We still have several unresolved FEMA issues, so let's not get ahead of ourselves,” the mayor said.