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State
vs. Local Governments: It all comes from taxpayers
A
lot has been said recently regarding the
Bettendorf
and
Davenport
city budget process. The cities received a slight reduction in
state aid last year, and seem to indicate this is a problem in
balancing this year’s city budget. State aid this year has not
been changed!
During
the first three years of this recession and flat state revenue
growth, cities, counties, and school districts were spared from
any budget cuts.
During that same period, state government experienced no real
growth, trimmed the number of state employees by 1700, reorganized
and streamlined a number of departments, eliminated out dated
programs, and drew down state reserve funds (The state cut a
billion dollars from it's budget) to spare budget cuts to our
priority programs (including state aid to local governments &
schools).
With state reserves near zero last year, local governments were
finally asked to help share the burden and aid to those
governments was reduced.
During
this recession,
Iowa
is one of only a handful of states that resisted the temptation to
increase taxes. This puts
Iowa
in a tremendous competitive situation as we enter a period of
economic prosperity and growth.
State
revenues have seen significant growth for three straight months
(particularly in the area of personal income tax collections),
signaling a true turnabout. The recession is at an end and
Iowa
is prepared to grow.
For three of four years of recession, local governments were held
harmless while the state took the tough steps to streamline
program delivery and improve efficiency. Local
governments must do the same.
What
has the legislature done to aid local governments in
Iowa
these last few years?
- Community Attractions and
Tourism program;
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- Numerous venture capital
initiatives, including the major effort headquartered right here
in
Davenport
- NO JOB KILLING TAX
INCREASES!
While
Iowa
has resisted increasing taxes and drawn down state reserve funds to
zero,
Bettendorf
is raising property taxes and fees while it holds on to a $4.2
million reserve fund (which is 23% of the total budget). They
“solve” a $1.3 million budget problem with tax and fee increases
while sitting on more than three times that amount in a reserve
fund.
Davenport
has added a garbage fee.
It does not take courage to raise taxes and fees. Why not use
a portion of the reserve fund to get over this temporary problem, or
better yet, find ways to make city government more efficient and
save funds in this manner, rather than take the easy way out and
increase taxes on local citizen? It’s the family budget versus the
government budget, and I choose to work to protect the family
budget.
Iowa
is turning the corner, and, because of the courage of state
legislators who resisted the temptation to increase taxes on our
citizens and businesses, we are poised to lead the nation in a new
decade of prosperity and growth.
Blaming
the state is wrong; it is the same taxpayer in both instances. The
Mayor’s of
Bettendorf
and
Davenport
should roll up their collective sleeves and balance each city’s
budgets…without tax and fee increases. It can be done! The General
Assembly has balanced its budget for the last four years...without
raising taxes!
Note:
This is a reprint of my
Quad
City
Times Editorial on
3/23/04
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I think this sheds light on the City vs. State funding issue. JVF
Ways
& Means Update
Bills
introduced introduced in
committee
this week:
HSB
718
-A
study bill relating to property taxation by establishing a maximum
property tax dollars limitation for counties and cities.
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