Legislator challenges governor on grant program

A top republican legislator says a state agency which bankrolls housingprojects is an example of “government gone bad.” Senate Republican LeaderStewart Iverson is calling on Governor Vilsack to quickly fix problems atthe Iowa Finance Authority. The Authority “reserved” tax credits for 20housing projects around the state, then decided to re-write the rules of thegame and toss out those reservations.Iverson says developers use the tax credits to help finance housing projectsfor low and moderate income Iowans.Governor Vilsack hastily staged a conference call with reporters to respondto Iverson’s challenge. Vilsack says it’s important to re-do the IowaFinance Authority rules for awarding tax credits to developers, as the oldrules don’t fall within federal guidelines.Vilsack says Iverson doesn’t understand the need to re-do the system ofawarding tax credits to developers.Vilsack says valuable tax credits are at stake, and he won’t strike aprivate deal with developers.The projects in limbo are located in Sioux City, Humboldt, Grundy Center,Iowa Falls, Davenport, Council Bluffs, Muscatine, Des Moines, Maquoketa,Knoxville, Oskaloosa, Waterloo, Marion, Iowa City, Dubuque, Carroll, Clintonand Clear Lake.