Cedar Rapids' buy-local initiative upsets Marion's business community

Jill Ackerman, president of the Marion Chamber of Commerce, isn't at all happy with the city of Cedar Rapids' new buy-local resolution that gives breaks on Cedar Rapids city business to Cedar Rapids businesses.

In a letter that has made its way to Cedar Rapids City Hall, Ackerman writes that the Cedar Rapids provision - which the City Council passed on an 8-1 vote on Jan. 6 - will have a “profound impact” on metro area businesses outside of Cedar Rapids conducting business in Cedar Rapids.

Given the parameters of Cedar Rapids' new ordinance, Marion businesses would have to far underbid Cedar Rapids firm to have a chance of being awarded work with the city of Cedar Rapids, she says.

Ackerman calls on Marion businesses to write letters to Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett and ask him to change Cedar Rapids' new buy-local resolution.

The Cedar Rapids resolution allows a Cedar Rapids business to bid 10 percent more than firms outside of Cedar Rapids and still receive city contracts for contracts equal to or less than $25,000; to bid 5 percent more on contracts between $25,000 and $200,000; and 1 percent more on contracts larger than $200,000.

The buy-local provision does not apply to all city business. For instance, it doesn't apply to construction contracts requiring sealed bids as specified in state law and it doesn't apply to contracts using state and federal money.

Ackerman notes that the city of Marion also has a buy-local resolution, but it allows a 1 percent advantage for items up to $1,000.

Cedar Rapids council member Tom Podzimek cast the lone vote against the Cedar Rapids resolution because he worried that it would unfairly hurt metro-area businesses and yet help large firms from out-of-state that had resources to open a small Cedar Rapids office.