Republicans heading into the upcoming regular session of the Iowa Legislature say they are prepared to work with Democrats, but the ultimate decision on how much bipartisanship will be seen is not up to them.
Rep. Annette Sweeney, R-Alden, said if the Democratic leadership keeps the focus on the budget and finding ways to grow Iowa's economy, Republicans will work with them. If the session becomes a platform for a variety of social issues and labor bills, it may be more contentious.
"I think those will be partisan and right now the state does not need that," Sweeney said. "We need to go down there with an open mind and be able to work together. Right now, Iowa is a mess with its budget."
The state has already cut as much as $500 million out of its budget for the current fiscal year and more cuts may be needed going into the next fiscal year.
One thing that should be avoided is balancing the budget on the backs of local taxpayers and governments, said Rep. Lance Horbach, R-Tama.
"We have lots of situations where cuts in one budget add costs to another and we are willing to do that because it makes the state budget look good," he said.
As one example, he mentioned not having a judge in Tama County. While that may save money for the state court system, it adds expense at other levels. County attorneys, the sheriff's department and others will be forced to make more trips to Cedar Rapids, thus increasing the expense of those offices.
"The taxpayer ends up being the loser there," Horbach said, because they are still paying for the service, but getting less of it.
Sweeney said without a pro-business agenda, it will be hard for the state to grow its budget without resorting to raising taxes or pushing more responsibilities off onto local governments and the property taxpayer.
As an example of where Iowa ranks in terms of being business friendly, she quoted a study from the Small Business and Entrepreneurial which compared all the states, plus Washington, D.C. In that study Iowa, ranked 25 in personal income tax, 41 in capital gains tax, 49 in corporate income taxes and 33 in property taxes.
In terms of the state parks, both Horbach and Sweeney are concerned the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is looking at considering closing parks, closing parts of parks or cutting some park hours. They believe there are better ways of handling it.
For example, Horbach noted the REAP program uses a significant portion of its funding to buy new land. It may be wise to consider diverting that money until the budget is in better shape.
"Here we are closing land we have and they want us to fund a program that will provide more land," he said. "It doesn't make sense."
The legislative session begins Jan. 11.
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Contact Ken Black at 641-753-6611 or kblack@timesrepublican.com