Gomers -- What's going wrong

BIDDING UPS AND DOWNS: The latest bids for work on the Cedar Rapids Convention Complex came in $5 million above the city's estimate of $41 million because the mechanical portion was 45 percent higher than expected and electrical was 87 percent more. Big misses, and city leaders are considering a rebid. On the brighter side of the city's largest flood-recovery/economic development project, the general contractor bid was well under the estimate. And previously, the winning bid for site demolition was less than half the estimate.

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NASTY SIDE EFFECT: The 2008 statewide ban on smoking in public and indoor places has seen much success. But an ugly side effect has been sighted: an increase in cigarette butts discarded along downtown Cedar Rapids streets and sidewalks. The city is using a $1,000 federal grant for eight outdoor receptacles for the butts.

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ANOTHER ERROR: The Internal Revenue Service fined the Iowa City school district $25,539 for being late on a payroll taxes payment. It likely will be refunded, and should, as it was just one day tardy. But it's another thorn in district bookkeeping, which made $2 million in errors earlier this year.