Was the hotel electrical outage at the Iowa League of Cities Legislative Day a symbol of the bleak fiscal situation the state finds itself in? Or was the quick, cheerful response by the hotel staff a sign that, if we pull together, we’ll get through it? Probably a bit of both.
Every year, the League of Cities makes arrangements for state legislative leaders to brief municipal representatives on topics important to cities. This year we heard from the chairs of the Appropriations, Ways and Means and Local Government committees on the state re-organization and pensions, the state budget, tax credits, tax increment financing and other local government issues.
One of the first questions about the state re-organization concerned Governor Culver’s suggestion that $50 million be taken out of the Road Use Fund (money from the gas tax and vehicle registration fees) to help pay for the state Highway Patrol. Why is this important? During the 2010/2011 fiscal year, Cresco is expected to receive about $345,000 from the Road Use Tax Fund. While that sounds like a lot, we will still have to use more than a third (about $130,000) of our local option sales tax money in order to have enough money to buy needed equipment, provide winter street services and do a bare minimum of street maintenance such as chip sealing.
The state gas tax has increased less than one cent per gallon since 2002, while the costs of cement and asphalt have skyrocketed, so revenue has not kept pace with expenses at all. The recent increase in the vehicle registration fees will help a bit, but the clear feeling of the city representatives was that those are not enough. It looks like another tight year for the state’s roads and streets.
Another topic that led to several questions was the language in the state re-organization bill that would allow (but not require) local governments to publish notices only online rather than in a newspaper. This was removed from the Senate version but is still in the House bill, so its future is unclear at the moment. Several city representatives spoke passionately in favor of the change, citing the cost of hardcopy publication as well as the time constraints imposed by weekly newspaper publication. When I asked one of them how he intended to provide notice to residents who don’t have Internet access, he suggested that they could go to the library. When I asked about those who were shut-in, he didn’t have an answer, but it didn’t change his mind.
It was clear that all of the legislators were sensitive to both the cities’ concerns and the financial constraints of a very tight budget year. They emphasized that “everything is on the table” while making no promises about what the final budget would look like. Everyone agreed on one thing though: It was a good omen when the lights came back on.
|
|
|
Was the hotel electrical outage at the Iowa League of Cities Legislative Day a symbol of the bleak fiscal situation the state finds itself in? Or was the quick, cheerful response by the hotel staff a sign that, if we pull together, we’ll get through it? Probably a bit of both.
Every year, the League of Cities makes arrangements for state legislative leaders to brief municipal representatives on topics important to cities. This year we heard from the chairs of the Appropriations, Ways and Means and Local Government committees on the state re-organization and pensions, the state budget, tax credits, tax increment financing and other local government issues.
One of the first questions about the state re-organization concerned Governor Culver’s suggestion that $50 million be taken out of the Road Use Fund (money from the gas tax and vehicle registration fees) to help pay for the state Highway Patrol. Why is this important? During the 2010/2011 fiscal year, Cresco is expected to receive about $345,000 from the Road Use Tax Fund. While that sounds like a lot, we will still have to use more than a third (about $130,000) of our local option sales tax money in order to have enough money to buy needed equipment, provide winter street services and do a bare minimum of street maintenance such as chip sealing.
The state gas tax has increased less than one cent per gallon since 2002, while the costs of cement and asphalt have skyrocketed, so revenue has not kept pace with expenses at all. The recent increase in the vehicle registration fees will help a bit, but the clear feeling of the city representatives was that those are not enough. It looks like another tight year for the state’s roads and streets.
Another topic that led to several questions was the language in the state re-organization bill that would allow (but not require) local governments to publish notices only online rather than in a newspaper. This was removed from the Senate version but is still in the House bill, so its future is unclear at the moment. Several city representatives spoke passionately in favor of the change, citing the cost of hardcopy publication as well as the time constraints imposed by weekly newspaper publication. When I asked one of them how he intended to provide notice to residents who don’t have Internet access, he suggested that they could go to the library. When I asked about those who were shut-in, he didn’t have an answer, but it didn’t change his mind.
It was clear that all of the legislators were sensitive to both the cities’ concerns and the financial constraints of a very tight budget year. They emphasized that “everything is on the table” while making no promises about what the final budget would look like. Everyone agreed on one thing though: It was a good omen when the lights came back on.
