The Marion Chamber of Commerce and the Marion Economic Development Company (MEDCO) came out last week against a recent Cedar Rapids resolution giving preference to Cedar Rapids businesses in municipal bids.

The city's resolution, passed by the Cedar Rapids City Council earlier this month, states that city's commitment to hiring companies within the city for projects, as opposed to automatically accepting the lowest responsible bid. Under the resolution, a Cedar Rapids business would be hired for a project if its bid is up to 10 percent higher for projects under $25,000 in cost, up to 5 percent higher on projects ranging between $25,000 and $200,000, and up to 1 percent higher for all projects over $200,000 in cost.

Marion Chamber President Jill Ackerman said the Cedar Rapids council's move damages efforts to promote regionalism in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor, as area companies will lose incentive to bid on Cedar Rapids projects, as they will have to bid under their estimate in hopes of winning the job from a business in town. Such a scenario will lead to lost revenue for those companies, she said.

Cedar Rapids is using the buy-local resolution to help its own businesses bounce back after the economic impact of the Flood of 2008, which devastated the city's downtown, located on the banks of the Cedar River.

Speaking to the Corridor Business Journal, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett stated he felt the city's policy would prove beneficial for Marion and the surrounding area as well, as Cedar Rapids companies employ numerous people who reside out of town. Ackerman, however, says the reverse is also true, and that Cedar Rapids residents could suffer if they work for a company based elsewhere in the Corridor.

Marion has its own buy-local policy, which allows the city to favor Marion businesses that bid within 1 percent of the lowest bid on projects costing no more than $1,000.