Cedar Rapids City Council approves flood buyout plan

The Cedar Rapids City Council has unanimously approved a plan for buying-out flood-damaged homes. This comes not long after over 100 flood survivors turned out for a town hall meeting to quiz city and federal officials about the progress.

The city is now in its 19th month of flood recovery, and there are still thousands struggling to recover. Those who attended the meeting didn’t understand why the city wasn’t moving faster on buyouts. Their frustrations were evident, and the city responded.

After the vote, the city is prepared to pay property owners 100 percent of pre-flood assessed value for their properties.

Part of the plan includes creating a “hardship advance” for the most affected of the 1,300 property owners awaiting a buyout of their flood property. The property owners who receive an advance would have to pay it back when the buyout is complete, though.

Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett says he worries some people in a financial position where they need money so badly they might rush into an agreement on the buyout price. Corbett claims a hardship advance would help prevent people from being taken advantage of in the process. City Manager Jim Prosser says the hardship program would be steered toward a small number of people on the verge going into bankruptcy or losing their property.

Corbett would like to pay property owners 110 percent of pre-flood value on their properties. He is leading a charge to make the city’s buyout plan more generous for flood survivors than a plan adopted earlier. Council members endorse his effort to convince state and federal officials to amend the buyout plan from last year.

As additional help, those receiving buyout letters can seek their own appraisal of their flood-damaged house, with the city paying up to $500 for the appraisal.

The city is also looking into using the Local Option Sales Tax money to give homeowners their money quicker, side-stepping the wait for the buyout process to move forward.

Questions should be directed to the Cedar Rapids City Council.