Lawmakers offer differing views on 2010 session

The 2010 General Assembly officially came to a close Tuesday afternoon, and Democrats and Republicans are walking away with dramatically different opinions on just how successful the session really was.

The year began with a projected $1 billion budget deficit. Democrats say they ended the year with a balanced the budget, no tax increases and increased spending for K-12 schools. In addition, they say they made progress on reforming the state’s tax credit system. Democrats passed a FY2011 budget that appropriates $5.3 billion from the general fund and another $700 million from one-time sources, such as federal stimulus money and state cash reserves.

“The lingering national recession has put almost every state budget in the red. In Iowa, that’s not the case. We’ve balanced the budget without increasing taxes on Iowa families. We did it by making tough choices and by reorganizing state government for the first time in 25 years,” said Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg. “Those changes will make the dollars we do spend go farther while saving hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years.”

Kibbie’s Republican counterpart, state Sen. Paul McKinley of Chariton, did not share his optimistic view.

“Did we take this opportunity to focus on the important priorities Iowans care about? Did we listen carefully to our constituents? Did we do all we could to put our state back on the right track?” McKinley said during his closing remarks on the senate floor, later adding: “This session was a missed opportunity to create a climate with reasonable levels of regulation and taxation that encourages private investment in our workforce. On jobs, we could have and should have done better.”

Republicans argue that while Democrats didn’t technically raise any taxes, by using one-time funds for on-going programs and shifting state funding obligations to local governments, Iowans will likely face property tax increases.

“[Democrats] used short-sighted budgeting practices to balance this year’s budget. As a result, property taxpayers will continue to suffer,” said Craig Lang, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. “Iowans have seen a 60 percent increase in property taxes paid over the past decade. Decisions made over the past three years – such as not fully funding school aid and property tax credits and making across-the-board budget cuts – have the potential to increase property taxes by another half billion dollars, without even considering ‘typical’ increases created by growth in levy rates and the tax base.”

Democrats are pointing to efforts like a government reorganization bill — which is expected to save the state $250 million — and an expansion of the I-JOBS public works plan, as well as millions of dollars in budget cuts, as evidence that they did what needed to be done during an economic crisis.

“We made the cuts we had to make while keeping our commitments to educational opportunity, access to affordable health care, renewable energy, public safety and job creation,” said House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque. “I’m proud of our efforts to make state government leaner and more effective, which allowed us to provide schools with an additional $147 million next year.”