A republican who’s running for Governor sees a big flaw in the “Vision Iowa” program touted by Iowa’s current democrat governor. Des Moines attorney and gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross says the program which hands out state grants for large-scale community projects requires so much local matching investment, it’s the cities that have gambling taxes from local casinos that’re getting the state cash.Gross says communities like Cedar Rapids and Waterloo can’t launch the mega-sized projects because they can’t come up with as much of a local match.The “Vision Iowa” board has approved state grants for projects in Clayton County, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Dubuque, Ottumwa, Polk County and Sioux City. All but Ottumwa have a local gambling operation. Gross has another concern about the projects that’ve been approved.Gross says many will end up being “tax-eaters” because they’re not able to generate enough cash to stand on their own and will require continued government subsidies to survive.
