Final Eggs And Issues Features State Lawmakers
March 28th, 2022
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska Chamber and Development Group hosted their final Eggs and Issues of the 2022 season on Saturday. Once again, Smokey Row was the host facility, and Midwest One provided the coffee for the occasion.
Eggs and Issues has been a standard in Southern Iowa, allowing policymakers and the general public an opportunity to discuss the latest issues.
Sen. Ken Rozenboom, Rep. Dustin Hite, and Rep. Holly Brink, all Republicans serving in Des Moines, were on hand to answer questions.
Questions from the public included concerns over E15 mandates for gas stations, press in the Iowa Senate, and what may be called outdated taxation regarding Brucellosis.
“The Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Fund was created in the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (DALS) to pay for expenditures related to the testing of animals for brucellosis and tuberculosis and the administration of the Brucellosis Program,” says the State of Iowa.
The funding collected from property tax is .0033 cents per $1,000 of all taxable property assessed value. The total amount generated for the Department of Agriculture averages $386,000.
“I think it’s a relic from the past,” said Rozenboom of the tax. “I’ll check it out.”
Oskaloosa resident Allison McGuire asked the legislators if they could explain how the budgets would cover the tax cuts that were passed this year.
Hite explained that the tax cut was projected out several years and funded through an increase in revenue and the Taxpayer Relief Fund, which currently has over a billion-dollar fund balance.
McGuire asked where the money comes from that goes into the Taxpayer Relief Fund.
Hite said he wasn’t familiar with all the mechanisms that go into that fund.
McGuire then asked if that fund was different from the ‘Rainy Day Fund’?
Hite said there are two such funds, each at approximately one billion dollars.
This was Rep. Holly Brink’s last Eggs and Issues as she decided not to run for re-election. Both Rozenboom and Hite are running for re-election.
Eggs and Issues is slated to begin in January of 2023 when elected officials will again answer questions from you, their constituents.
