Corbett wants more accurate estimates on spending of C.R. LOST revenue

Mayor Ron Corbett is asking city staff members to more accurately estimate how much of the projected revenue from city's local-option sales tax actually is apt to be used for acquisition and rehabilitation of flood-damaged properties and for direct payments to flood victims.

The City Council on Tuesday is slated to steer $4 million of the sales-tax pot - which should take in about $80 million in the 63-month life of the 1-percent tax - to help pay for land for the new downtown library. And Corbett said he wants the more-accurate report of programs now being funded by the tax revenue to show skeptics that there is more than enough revenue to help with city flood-recovery projects.

The ballot language approved by voters in March 2009, which put the tax in place, says the tax revenue can be used for flood-recovery and flood-protection projects if the local revenue is being used to match federal funds.

To date, the City Council has identified about $66 million that will come into the sales-tax pot for possible uses, but Corbett noted at a council Budget Committee meeting on Thursday that the forecasts are many millions of dollars too high.

For instance, he said a program to help flood-impacted landlords rehabilitate their properties has paid out $1.8 million to date when $25 million had been thought to be needed. Council member Don Karr speculated that many of those landlords have decided to have their properties bought out rather than renovating them.

Corbett also noted that $5.4 million in sales-tax revenue was thought to be needed for people selling homes on contract who did not qualify for federal programs. However, only about $100,000 has been spent to date on the program.

The bulk of the $17 million paid out to date in sales-tax money has gone directly to flood-impacted homeowners in a new program of grants of up to $10,000 to replace personal possessions lost in the flood.

Drew Westberg, special assistant to the city manager, reported to the Budget Committee on Thursday that 1,950 households signed up for the personal-possessions program before the Nov. 15 deadline. To date, $15.6 million has been paid out of an expected $17 million set aside for the personal-possessions program, and Westberg said the total for the program may reach $18.5 to $19 million.

Flood-impacted renters have until Feb. 28 to apply for a similar program that will pay up to $4,000 per households for lost personal possessions. More documentation, though, is being required for the renters' program to make sure, for instance, that funds are not paid to those who lived in upper-story apartments untouched by flood water.

The council's Budget Committee has supported using sales-tax revenue to help with land purchases for the some city building projects, and on Thursday the four-member committee sounded as if they supported using an estimated $4 million for the library project. Corbett said he later will ask the council to approve an estimated $200,000 more for the library project once a small piece of land not yet acquired for the project is purchased.

The council-appointed Local-Option Sales Tax Oversight Committee is designed to weigh in on decisions the council has made about the use of the tax revenue.

Last week, though, the committee weighed in before any council vote to say, 5-2, that it opposed the use of sales-tax revenue for city building projects. However, two committee members were absent, another said he needed to see better estimates and all or nearly all said the ballot language allows the city to spend sales-tax revenue as matching funds for flood-recovery projects.