Baird, Corbett test sales-tax pitch before neighborhood meetings

Get used to this guy.

Pat Baird, retired CEO of AEGON USA, on Wednesday said he believes he has a "good" and "right" answer for any question as the lead voice in a community campaign to convince voters to extend the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax for 20 years for flood protection, street repairs and property-tax relief.

Baird, chairman of the Protect Cedar Rapids Committee, will be front and center to make the pitch for most of a series of 20 evening neighborhood meetings that begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Harrison Elementary School near the flood-hit Time Check Neighborhood.

And on Wednesday, he and Mayor Ron Corbett previewed the case for the tax extension that they will make and have been making to local organizations during a meeting Wednesday with The Gazette's editorial board.

"I think the facts are so compelling," Baird told the board. "I'm not with the city. I don't have a dog in the hunt. It's the right thing to do."

Baird, 57, said he's convinced that Cedar Rapids will face another damaging flood in his lifetime if it doesn't find the funds to build a comprehensive flood-protection system. Such a flood, even if it doesn't reach the level of the 2008 flood, will once again damage the downtown and other parts of the city, setting the city back for many years, he said. He added that the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides disaster relief to a community once, not twice.

Baird and Corbett talked about what Corbett calls the "three-legged stool," his image for the city's need to win federal, state and local financial support if it is to build a flood-protection system that protects both sides of the Cedar River and allows the city to sit safely in the future.

The two are preparing for the local tax-extension vote on May 3 even as the city works to convince the Iowa Legislature to divert a portion of the growth in state sales tax collected here to help pay for the Cedar Rapids flood-protection system.

Baird and Corbett both thought the Legislature would stay in session beyond the May 3 local tax-extension vote, and Baird said losing the May 3 vote would hurt the city's chances to get the Legislature's support.

"I'd hate to lose this vote," Baird said.

Baird said the May 3 vote seeks support for a "focused program" like those that Cedar Rapids voters have supported in the past for swimming pools, the city's minor-league baseball stadium and school renovations. Voters rejected measures that lacked focus such as the RiverRun redevelopment plan with its white-water kayak course, he added.

Corbett said the Protect Cedar Rapids Committee is encouraging residents to come to one of the 20 neighborhood meetings in April by mailing out postcards and using follow-up calls to let residents know of the meetings nearest them.

As for answers to some of the questions they say they hear often:

Corbett noted that the Army Corps of Engineers' no-frills plan for most of the east side of the city calls for a concrete flood wall 13 high through much of the downtown. Is it a want or need to want to install more-expensive, removable walls? Corbett asked. Baird said the city's proposed flood-protection system turns the river into a community asset. A 13-foot concrete "Berlin Wall" would be a graffiti magnet, he said.

Corbett noted that the Penford Products plant with its 200-plus jobs sits on the west side of the river. Is it a want or need to protect the plant? he asked.

Corbett said the city's plan is not a "Cadillac" one, and he said more expensive proposals were set aside in favor of the city's $375-million "preferred" plan. The Army Corps of Engineers' plan, which will be part of the larger one, has a price tag of about $104 million.

Baird said the 20-year length of the tax extension makes sense so those in the years ahead who enjoy the flood protection also help pay for it.

The city's proposal calls for 50 percent of the 20-year tax extension to go for flood protection, 40 percent to fix streets and 10 percent for property-tax relief. The tax will bring in an estimated $20 million a year.

Baird said using some of the tax revenue for streets and property-tax relief should help win ballot support from those who don't feel they will directly benefit from a new flood-protection system.

Corbett said some people think that the city already has secured federal funding for the Corps' plan, which he emphasized was not the case. Convincing Congress to fund the plan is another of the city's tasks, he said.