CR Council approves a lousy deal

Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett uncorked his very best Knute Rockne impression at City Hall Tuesday evening.

Get out there, City Council, and win one for the TIF-er!

'We're going to fight for our tax base, and fight for our jobs,” Corbett said, imploring his colleagues to support a $506,000 tax break for Terex, hoping to keep the firm from moving 50 engineering jobs 300 feet across the city line into Marion.

He derided 'bomb-throwers” in neighboring cities he says 'raided” Cedar Rapids for jobs in recent years, and yet, object when Cedar Rapids throws bombs back. Now that Cedar Rapids is 'open for business,” Corbett bragged the city is 'winning ‘em all.”

'I think it's a home run for our community,” Corbett said, switching to Casey Stengel.

The tax break got a 5-3 council endorsement, paving the way for Terex to move into unfurnished office space in the Fountains development instead of furnished space in Marion. So, basically, the new tax break will help the global manufacturer scrape together enough bucks to buy office furniture. It's a Christmas miracle.

The Fountains, you may recall, already has received a $3.7 million package of city tax breaks, so the Terex gift would be layered on top. Unusual, city staff said.

Terex, you may recall, bought Cedarapids Inc. in 1999, laid off 440 employees in 2000 and closed its manufacturing plant here in 2009, cutting 170 jobs. In 2000, the city repaid a $450,000 state loan awarded in 1995 to Cedarapids Inc. because its jobs were not retained.

So which council Grinches opposed such a sweet deal?

Scott Olson, a longtime commercial Realtor, argued the deal sets a dangerous precedent in a city with loads of empty office space. 'We're going to open Pandora's box,” said Olson, who also opposed incentives for the Fountains development. 'I'm going to fight this till the end.”

Also voting no was Kris Gulick, the council's certified public accountant who works with numerous businesses. 'It just doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint,” Gulick said.

Monica Vernon, who started and built her own business in Cedar Rapids, delivered the third no vote. 'I don't like this idea of paying for office furniture,” Vernon said.

But what do they know?

A bad deal when they see it, that's what.

A company with Terex's track record in town shouldn't be rewarded for threatening to move, especially with so many highly successful job-creators across the city sitting in chairs they bought with their hard-earned money.

Olson argued this is the sort of deal critics of TIF at the Statehouse will point to when they seek to weaken or dismantle its use as a local development tool. He's right.

And this saga is just the latest example of how pathetic our endless economic development war has become. We live in a regional economy, with the benefits of growth, investment and prosperity flowing freely across old boundaries. And yet, we're still throwing bombs at neighbors from our municipal trenches.

It's a bad system. And to be fair to the mayor, he didn't create it. But his home run looks more like a foul ball.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com