Deja Penny

Checked out the Local Option Sales Tax Advisory Committee meeting last night. It had a distinctive retro feel.

Roughly a month ago, the panel voted 6-1 that a new program providing grants of up to $10,000 to flooded homeowners with unmet needs does not fit the tax ballot language approved by Cedar Rapids voters. Members said they appreciate the effort to help folks, but they're sticklers when it comes to the ballot. That's their job.

But last night, the LOST panel voted on the matter again. This time, with a slightly different cast of characters, the vote was 4-2 that the program does not fit. Different vote, same result.

So what's up with the do-over?

It turns out that two new members who voted June 29, Linda Seger and Beverly Dittmar and Doug Wagner, technically weren't supposed to start their terms on the panel until July 1. So there were questions whether the vote was truly official. The sticklers are everywhere.

Thursday night. Seger and Dittmar and Wagner, now all official, voted no again, along with Doug Wagner and Jeff Palmer. Board chair Gary Ficken and new member Lisa Kuzela voted yes. Three others missed the vote.

Of course, the only vote that really counts is the City Council's 8-1

8-0 tally in favor of creating the unmet needs program. The advisory panel has no power to stop anything. And in this case, the council voted before the advisory panel even had a chance to look at the proposal.

Council members say the program will match federal dollars, a use consistent with the ballot language. That's a stretch the LOST committee is unwilling to make.

And now, the powerless panel has wielded its lack of  authority officially. I don't know about you, but I'll sleep better.

Meanwhile,

nearly 1,200 people have applied for unmet needs grants.