Linn supervisors field requests for development funds

Much spending by Iowan counties is out of the hands of  supervisors, who must allocate their budgets according to state and federal guidelines. But there's one area where Linn County supervisors have discretion: the county's economic development fund.

Supervisors, who have spent $135,100 of the $200,000 fund for the fiscal year that started July 1, heard two more requests this morning. Supporters of an amphitheater planned for Marion's Lowe Park asked for $25,000 a year over the next three years, and Central City's Main Street program asked for $7,000 this year.

"It's kind of a quiet program in our town, but it's essential," said Ruthanne Weighton, a Central City Main Street board member.

Weighton said the county money would support the group's continued improvement efforts, which include a revolving small-business loan fund, downtown landscaping and facade renewal, and a business incubator. The group is also working to connect the city's trail system to trails in the county's nearby Pinicon Ridge Park.

The Central City Council has agreed to match a county appropriation, Weighton said.

Vic Klopfenstein, Marion's former mayor, told supervisors the county money would help the amphitheater project meet other funders' requirements for matching local money. He said organizers hope to raise $300,000 from foundations and other donors toward the project's $1.7 million total cost.

Marion is also applying for $200,000 to $250,ooo from Vision Iowa and $150,000 from the state's REAP fund.

"Maybe we can get this project started next year," Klopfenstein said.

Matching money from other sources is a key component of any request from the development fund, supervisors said.

"I almost always want to see that there's leverage money," said Supervisor Brent Oleson, R-Marion.

Oleson said he likes to see county funding "matched at least equally, if not more" and "I like to make sure it's not all concentrated in downtown Cedar Rapids."

"I certainly want to know that it's creating jobs ," said Supervisor Lu Barron, D-Cedar Rapids. "That they're actually leveraging other dollars is probably the most important thing."

"Being able to leverage what we give them is very important," said Supervisor Ben Rogers, D-Cedar Rapids. "We look at the merit of the project that's proposed, and we take a lot of things into consideration that do have a certain degree of flexibility."

The need for a local match to state grants prompted the economic development fund's creation, Barron said. Local organizations started coming to the county in the late 1990s seeking local dollars for their applications to state funds such as Vision  Iowa and REAP, she said.

"We needed matching funds to match any of the Vision Iowa projects, the CAT grants, and we didn't have anything," Barron said. "We branched out from there because there's other really neat things people do, like the Main Street programs, that need some matching funds."

First set at $200,000, the development fund was reduced $50,000 after the June 2008 flood and was restored to its original level in this year's budget. A $10,000 surplus from last year's fund was carried over.

Supervisors have allocated or committed $173,100. The Central City and Marion requests, which will be acted upon at Wednesday's formal session, would come from the $36,900 left in the account.

Allocated or committed for fiscal 2013:

• Each One Reach One program for offenders: AmeriCorps staff through state Department of Corrections: $15,000
• Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation grant writer to assist local programs: $40,000
• RAGBRAI events: $10,000
• Kirkwood Small Business Development Center: $10,000
• Workplace Learning Connection: $7,600
• Czech Village Urban Main Street: $17,500
• New Bo City Market: $35,000 ($100,000 committed through fiscal 2015)
• Entrepreneurial Development Center: $30,000
• Trees Forever: $8,000