Petition drive starts to force new local-option tax vote

UPDATED: Tuesday, July 16, 2011

CEDAR RAPIDS - The petition drive has begun to again put an extension of the local-option sales tax to a vote, this time for a scaled-down plan extending the tax just 10 years and putting all the funds toward flood recovery.

Supporters have dubbed the drive CREST - Cedar Rapids Extended Sales Tax - with a goal of collecting at least 4,032 signatures to require the Linn County Board of Supervisors to call a new election, likely on March 6.

Every jurisdiction in Linn County with a sunset date to its existing local-option sales tax also would vote on an extension.

Cedar Rapids' existing local sales tax, which is now being used primarily for flood recovery, expires June 30, 2014. A May 3 vote to extend it for 20 years failed. In that instance, the funds would have been divided: 50 percent for flood protection, 40 percent for street repairs and 10 percent for property-tax relief.

Brad Hart, an attorney with Bradley & Riley PC, is among 16 volunteers to date involved in the petition drive. He said volunteers come from every quadrant of the city.

“This is truly grass roots,” Hart said. “We have a bunch of people, some I don't know. I think it's just going to grow.”

“We got to do something,” he said. “We got to have flood protection.”

He noted that any state funds to help the city with flood protection will be contingent on the use of city funds as well.

Another volunteer is Linda Seger, a flood survivor and president of Northwest Neighbors, who voted against the tax extension for 20 years. She said the new proposal extends the tax fewer years and directs all the revenue to flood protection for both sides of the Cedar River.

“Doing nothing is wrong,” Seger said. “We just feel nobody is going to come down and invest anything if they don't think there's any flood protection.”

Other supporters are Jack Roeder, Kurt Gustafson, Clint Twedt-Ball, Bob Schaffer, Doug Schumacher, Gary Ficken, John Bloomhall, Al Pierson, Craig McCormick, Jim Lane, Tony Christopherson, Sue Wesely, Gary Wesely and Katie Sandquist.

Tim Pugh, a member of the We Can Do Better CR group that campaigned against the tax extension earlier this year, said he needed to see more details about the 10-year proposal, but that it could be an interesting step.

However, Pugh said the city still needs to rework its preferred flood-protection plan, because it is “full of pork and wasteful spending” and is as much a downtown revitalization plan as a flood-protection plan.

City officials have characterized it as a no-frills plan, and it has had the support of two mayors and two City Councils.

In the run-up to the May 3 vote, Mayor Ron Corbett was among the leading voices in the community making a case for extending the sales tax. This time, Corbett and the City Council are letting the grass-roots effort make the case.

Hart said he expects the petition drive to collect signatures throughout the fall, which means the effort won't be complete in time for the general election Nov. 8. State law allows special elections for such referendums in March, May and August as well.

According to the Linn County Auditor, the number of signatures required on petitions to force a vote is equal to 5 percent of those who voted in the last general election. Hence, 4,032 signatures is the goal.