The Rozenboom Report – February 17th, 2023

by Senator Ken Rozenboom

One of most common issues Iowans bring to Senate Republicans is the high cost of property taxes. Property tax collections have increased by $3.95 billion since 2000, an increase of 145%, while the median Iowa household income has only grown by 44% over the same period.

This week SSB 1124, the property tax reform policy proposed by Senate Republicans, cleared its first legislative hurdle. During the subcommittee on this bill the question was asked, “What is this bill trying to accomplish?” It is a fair question. The problem is, property taxes in Iowa are too high and Iowans are deeply concerned about future increases. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, Iowa ranks 40th in the country in the cost of property taxes.

In the next several weeks Iowans will be getting updated assessments on the value of their property. They are expected to increase statewide by an average of 10-20%. Since property taxes are tied to assessments, Iowans are fearing up to a 20% increase in their property taxes and when they don’t know where to turn for relief, and they turn to us.

SSB 1124 simplifies and consolidates around 20 different levies. It eliminates two different levies because other revenue exists for those services. Over the years, hard caps passed by the legislature have been worked around by some local governments and this bill will reinstate those caps and put more control on spending growth. Finally, it increases voter participation and transparency in bond referenda and debt consolidation. We’ll see how this debate develops and hopefully we’ll be able to provide some help for taxpayers.

According to the Iowa City Press Citizen, the total amount of unemployment insurance overpayments for 2022 was up 6,086% since 2017, costing over $129 million in unwarranted spending. Fraud payments were also up 242% last year totaling $13.8 million. This unwarranted spending takes away benefits from those who are legitimately in need. SSB 1105 works to prevent this problem by adapting a more efficient process for identifying eligibility for welfare. This bill started going through the legislative process this week and is designed to address the issue of errors and fraud in Iowa’s public assistance programs. Efficient programs and organizations to check employment, assets, residency, and citizenship already exist. The State of Iowa simply needs to use them. SSB 1105 helps ensure these programs are available for Iowans in legitimate need and protect the taxpayer from fraud and government inefficiency.

During her Condition of the State address, Governor Kim Reynolds shared her priority for making government “efficient, effective, and small again,” putting forward a major plan for realignment of departments this year. Last year, she merged the departments of Human Services and Public Health into the new Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. This action did not cost any employees their job, nor did it downgrade any service, but it did streamline the organization. Governor Reynolds wants to continue with this success by streamlining Iowa’s 37 cabinet agencies to 16. She has introduced Senate Study Bill 1123 to accomplish this goal. This week, SSB 1123 continued making its way through the legislative process. It has already had several subcommittees to ensure affected parties can speak and senators can receive public input. It has been nearly 40 years since Iowa has taken a comprehensive view of its government structure and now is the time for change. The goal of this bill will be to reduce unnecessary friction among agencies, improve efficiency and collaboration, and prevent government from enlarging.

Education continued to be a major topic again this week as we work on improving student success in Iowa and make K-12 education in Iowa better for not just students, but also parents and teachers. This week, Senate Study Bill 1076 moved forward to ease regulations on schools and provide more opportunity and choice for local school districts. The bill, proposed by Governor Kim Reynolds, has a number of changes for schools, like removing the requirement for school librarians to hold a master’s degree and also allows for greater flexibility and opportunity within agreements between schools and community colleges. It also allows high school teachers and community college teachers, in an agreement with the school district, to teach two or more sequential units of one subject area in the same classroom at the same time.

Senate Study Bill 1076 is another piece of legislation that helps improve flexibility for schools in Iowa and takes another step towards improving education in our state.

Posted by on Feb 17 2023. Filed under Local News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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