June 28,2010
City of Cedar Rapids
City Council
3851 River Ridge Drive NE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402
Councilmen and Councilwoman,
Enough is enough. Today is the day that I have decided to file a lawsuit against the City Council and your misappropriations of the LOST revenue.
Senate File 44 (Local option sales tax tax) was introduced by Senator Joe Bolkcom (D) on January 26, 2009, to allow a city or unincorporated area located in a county declared a federal disaster area in 2008 to impose a local sales tax. A vote of the people would be required to impose the tax.
A couple of different amendments were offered to narrow the purposes for which the revenue from the proposed tax could be used. Both of these amendments failed. I wasn’t present at this vote but I imagine that the legislators didn’t want to tie the hands of those in Cedar Rapids who were dealing with the flood and perhaps delay help getting to people on a technicality or something of that sort.
The house passed the bill on January 20, 2010 2009. The law was signed by Governor Chet Culver on February 2, 2009. Representative Renee Schulte was the only Linn County Republican Legislator to vote in favor of this bill. The other Republicans did not want to see another tax burden added to the citizens.
I believe Representative Schulte was looking at what she was hearing from those in the flooded areas. There was no money available. We wanted to be able to help ourselves and the community listened as the City Council pitched the LOST vote. Many of us were like Representative Schulte and believed that this would be a way for neighbor to help neighbor, one penny at a time.
Not all citizens of Cedar Rapids were for the penny increase. They weren’t against helping their neighbors, they didn’t trust the City Council with the revenue from the vote. As the debate grew in town regarding the vote, the City released a Press Release on February 20, 2009.
“Our number one priorities are buying out significantly flood-damaged homes and rebuilding and repairing all the other flooded homes”. “LOST will provide the funding we desperately need” said Chuck Wieneke. Justin Shields stated, “The tax revenue from LOST won’t cover the cost of all the buyouts and housing rehabilitation we need to do, but the money will bring us that much closer to our goal”. Former Mayor Halloran commented, “The confirmed announcement established what’s most important to our city: buyouts and rehabilitating flood-damaged homes. We need the funding as soon as we can possibly get it.”
The statement also showed the tax would be allocated as 10 percent for property tax relief; and 90 percent for the acquisition and rehabilitation of flood damaged housing caused by the flood of 2008.
The ballot dated March 3,2009 asked the following:
Public Measure D
Shall the following Public Measure be adopted? Yes/No
Summary: To authorize the imposition of a local sales and services tax in the City of Cedar Rapids at the rate of one percent (1%) to be effective from April 1, 2009, until June 30, 2014.
Revenues from the sales and services tax shall be allocated as follows:
Ten percent (10%) for property tax relief;
The specific purposes for which the revenues shall otherwise be expended are: 90% for the acquisition and rehabilitation of flood damaged housing caused by the flooding of 2008, and matching funds for federal flood dollars to assist with flood recovery or flood protection.
The vote was held on March 3, 2009 as scheduled. The majority of the Citizens voted in favor of the tax, 59.01% or 12,982 votes.
I’ve talked to many citizens that voted on that day. We all have the same thought. The vote was to help those people who were flooded and needed more assistance to get their home complete. None of us had heard any mention that it would not be as stated by the City, “all the other flooded homes”.
Ron Corbett made a big deal of the LOST funds during his campaign for Mayor. He wanted to know why the citizens were not getting the funds they needed. He pushed hard on this matter. Not once did we hear him mention that he didn’t think it would be a smart thing to prohibit those in the City’s self made zones, specifically the Greenway and the Construction Zones, from receiving any funds.
Fast forward to the present day, Ron Corbett will tell you in a heartbeat that it is a dumb thing to put money into the homes of those in the City’s self made Greenway and Construction zones. He is also quick to tell you that “those people” can rebuild but they have to do it on their own dime.
LOST funds have begun to trickle down some. However, in the meantime people have lost their homes, hope and confidence in their government. I don’t blame them. I wonder at times why I even try. I remember then that all it takes for corruption to continue is for those of us on the outside to sit and do nothing. I refuse to stick my head in the sand and say it’s not my place.
Ron Corbett told me that the purpose of the LOST revenue was changed. No money would be put into those zones. I told him, along with several others, that we wanted our votes back. We told him to change it back! I’ve looked and there is no where an official vote of the Council changing what the LOST revenue would be used for.
Are you all in agreement that my neighbors closest to the river have no right to any of the funds? Did any of you disagree?
Drew Casey with the City Finance Department has stated that the FY11 budget has 10% of the LOST revenue being used to pay for Greg Eyerly’s expenses, flood personnel, temporary utilities, legislative expenses and grant programming. None of that was part of the statement of the Council as to what the funds would be used for.
Now, you have decided to give up to $10,000 for furniture, clothing, tools, etc. That is ridiculous. We still have people needing their homes bought out, rehabbed or rebuilt.
With all that has happened to our community since the flood it has become obvious that the greatest disaster was not the flood of 2008, it has been what you all have been doing to us in the community.
It’s time to stop. I’ve talked to people all over the State of Iowa from local elected people to one of the highest ranking members of Congress and I’ve seen no changes. I don’t see that I have any other option than to continue with the process of hiring an attorney or choosing which advocacy group to use.
Packets with the information mentioned in this letter along with many other documents have been sent to as many attorneys and advocacy groups that we could locate. It’s my hope that someone will decide to be a hero to this community.
We expected better of you when you were elected. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.
Kathy Potts
1118 1st Street SW
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404
