Council committee: use sales tax funds for new animal shelter

CEDAR RAPIDS - A City Council committee on Friday strongly endorsed using up to $3.55 million raised with the city's local-option sales tax to help build a scaled-back, $4.55-million animal shelter at Kirkwood Community College.

The shelter would replace the city's old, out-of-the-way, flood-ruined shelter.

The three-member Flood Recovery Committee's recommendation goes to the nine-member City Council for a vote.

Months ago, the full council expressed interest in using revenue from the local-option sales tax to fill in funding gaps for a new library, new central fire station and new animal shelter if necessary.

To date, the council has voted to use $4 million in sales tax revenue for the $49-million library project.

Council member Justin Shields, a Flood Recovery Committee member, said Friday, “That's what it was for,” as he voted along with committee members Don Karr and Chuck Wieneke to use sales-tax revenue for the animal shelter.

Joe O'Hern, the city's director of flood recovery and reinvestment, said the city expected the Federal Emergency Management Agency to contribute about $1 million to the shelter, though he added that the city continues to seek additional FEMA funds for the project.

At one point in time, the city was planning a 20,000-square-foot Animal Care and Control operation at a cost of $7.7 million. FEMA, though, has not provided the city with as large a sum as the city had hoped for the new shelter.

Kirkwood site training opportunities cited

City officials said the current proposal is for a 13,400-square-foot facility next to the Swine Education Center on 76th Avenue SW on the Kirkwood campus. Construction is to start in 2012, city officials said.

Police Chief Greg Graham told the council committee on Friday that the city continues to operate its shelter operation in temporary quarters at 2109 North Towne Lane NE under the watchful eye of state regulators. Getting moving on plans for a new shelter will “will keep them off our back,” he told the committee.

At a break in Friday's meeting, Graham noted that a City Hall selection committee picked the Kirkwood site for the new animal shelter from a list of possible sites with the idea that Kirkwood veterinary-tech students could use the shelter for training while providing help to the city's operation of it. “I firmly believe we will be able to save more animals because of having the shelter there,” he said.

Flood tax, at a glance

The city's local-option sales tax, which is being collected over a 63-month period ending on June 30, 2014, is expected to raise about $80 million for flood-related matters. The City Council has used most of the money to date for housing-related projects and direct payments to flood victims for personal possessions lost in the 2008 flood. Funds will remain once those needs are addressed, the council has said.

In March 2009, voters said the tax could be used to match federal funds for flood recovery and flood protection, which is why council members have said they intend to use the revenue to help with the library and animal shelter projects.

Link to city's flood tax page