Week 13: Budgets and Property Taxes

I had the honor or starting my week by hosting legendary Coach Tony Dungy for a virtual meeting with House and Senate colleagues discussing the fatherhood initiatives in my Strong Families Tax Credit. It was a great opportunity to hear about the successes of this model in states like Texas and Florida. A stronger Iowa begins with strong families and I will continue to champion this piece of legislation!

The highlight of my week was welcoming Colo-NESCO students to the House Chamber. They asked some really great questions about how their government works. I was also asked about my favorite Presidents and enjoyed telling them about Iowa’s Great Humanitarian Herbert Hoover and the millions of lives he saved from starvation after WWI and WWII.

The Governor signed two of my legislative priorities into law this week! On Tuesday, she signed SF2096, which shifts Iowa’s foster care training model from a one size fits all cookie cutter approach to a competency based approach based on the needs of the foster parents and the children they will be welcoming into their homes.

I was honored to be able to attend the bill signing for HF2514 on Thursday in Slater, which codifies the child-care assistance program into law. This is based on the wildly successful pilot program, which helps to stabilize and grow our childcare workforce. Childcare is core to economic development and I was proud to champion this bill. I also enjoyed hearing about the innovative continuum of care collaboration between Stepping Stones and Ballard Schools.

Coming from a Navy family, it was my great honor to lead House Resolution 114 that was co-sponsored by 33 House colleagues. This resolution honors the Iowans that served on the USS Indianapolis that was lost in the Pacific in WWII.

With the Senate’s passage of their property tax bill last week, I expect my House colleagues to analyze and amend the Senate bill and send a response back the Senate. This is an important step to delivering meaningful property tax relief for Iowans.

Last week, I also enjoyed attending the community dinner in Melbourne and visiting with voters in Albion and Marshalltown. We capped off the week with a full house for coffee & conversation at Holy Grounds Coffee in State Center. If you haven’t checked out that great small business, I highly recommend it.

Government Oversight Hears AI Budget Proposal

This week, the Government Oversight Committee heard a presentation from the company Tyler Technologies. With the significant public desire to address property taxes, the Iowa House is interested in enlisting the services of Tyler Technologies to compare county and school district budgets across the state to gain greater insight into how taxpayer dollars are being spent locally.

For the first time, local governments would be able to see exactly how their line-item spending–from maintenance to insurance costs–compares to peers of similar size and demographics. Beyond just flagging high costs, this platform offers solutions for savings. Local governments and their constituents can see exactly how peer entities solved similar budget challenges.

This data analysis can help reveal simple solutions to complex budgets. As an example, Tyler Technologies shared a story of a county in Florida that was spending far more than its peers on mulch. The explanation was simply that they were not buying in bulk. This information freed up roughly $1 million in their budget to be put to better use.

This information is all public data collected and submitted by the school districts and counties themselves. However, taking the time to pull all of this information together in a way that’s useful to elected officials would’ve taken years. Now, with the use of AI, Tyler Technologies can pull this data together in a matter of weeks.

This platform won’t be locked behind a paywall. It will be accessible to local officials and the public alike, ensuring total transparency in how Iowa’s tax dollars are utilized. We believe that local leaders want to be good stewards of public funds and want to find opportunities for efficiency. We see no reason they wouldn’t welcome the transparency into this information.

Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent. More transparency from this tool will help ensure their hard-earned dollars are being spent wisely. If you’re interested in checking out this tool, here is a link to an example of the data they provide for a county in another state. I hope that if proven successful, this tool can be used across all levels of government — including state government.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to work hard on your behalf in Des Moines! Follow “Barker for Iowa” on social media channels to stay up to date on my work.