Forty-five owners now have agreed to city buyout offers; first property closings expected in late January

Another 17 owners have signed offers to have the city buy out their flood-damaged properties, bringing to 45 the number who now have done so among a first group of 117 owners of property most at risk of flooding again.

The city anticipates the first closings on the purchases to take place in late January, Rita Rasmussen, the city's senior real estate officer, told the City Council last night.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying 90 percent of the cost of the first buyouts with the state of Iowa 10 percent of the cost. Before it's done, the city estimates it may buy out some 1,300 properties, with most of the money coming from federal Community Development Block Grant funds now in place to make the purchases.

City Manager Jim Prosser said last night that buyouts using block-grant funds will begin early next year.