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Iowa Senate Republicans are including more money for property tax relief in a bill that extends the statewide sales tax that helps pay for school infrastructure.
Democrats opposed the Senate Republicans’ proposal but supported the overall bill. Senator Joe Bolkcom is a Democrat from Iowa City.
0417bolkcom2: 18 “We’re making a big decision with this amendment to take money that would go to infrastructure and we’re going to give it to property tax relief and that’s maybe a worthy goal… but we’re making changes here and it doesn’t seem like we’re flying with a set of data that would support the direction of this amendment.”
Republican Dan Dawson says money for school districts would still nearly double by 2051 through this sales tax.
Iowa’s two U.S. Senators say flood control should be the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ number 1 priority in managing the Missouri River.
At a Senate field hearing in Glenwood (Wed), the corps of engineers defended the way it handled this year’s historic flooding. The corps argued last month’s weather was so extreme that flooding could not have been prevented.
Senator Chuck Grassley said he’s focused on getting emergency money to the corps to fix up levees along the river damaged by flooding. But a lot more needs to be done.
(0417grassley 0:13)) We’d also feel that better control of the existing dams would be a step in the right direction and that we ought to do that first.
Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst were joined at the hearing by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Jerry Moran (Mor-RAN). They asked the corps questions about how they’ve managed the river and asked farmers and city officials about the damages they’ve dealt with from the flooding.
