Republican leaders in the Iowa Legislature say they’ll focus on property tax relief when lawmakers return to the Statehouse next month.
The legislature passed a bill targeting property taxes in 2023, but Republican leaders say they want to do more.
House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl said Wednesday that he’s heard lots of concerns about property taxes from Iowans.
“People want to make sure that their homes are affordable, and if they’ve made the investment into their homes, that they’re not getting taxed out of them. They also want to make sure that if they are paying those property taxes, that they’re being used for the appropriate government services that property taxes should be paid for,” Windschitl said.
Property tax rates are controlled by local governments, and they’ve pushed back against state attempts to restrict their authority to tax and spend.
Democratic leaders say they’d also like to see property taxes go down, but they want to ensure communities can fund things like public safety and education.
*Additionally, the town of Spencer, Iowa, was heavily impacted by June flooding of the Little Sioux River that cuts through the Clay County town.
Some impacted residents received some funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and now there could be some additional money that could be delivered there.
Spencer Interim City Manager Kevin Robinson on Thursday told Siouxland Public Media News that about $1.4 million from the American Rescue Plan that was to be spent on a bridge project could be instead redirected.
Spencer City Council members at their December 16 meeting will discuss the option of having the money be used for grant programs to assist business and rental property owners. Those people could not get FEMA direct money, Robinson said.
The money will likely not be for brick-and-mortar building repairs, but for rebuilding lost inventory or technology improvements.
“Businesses were having trouble finding funding opportunities,” he said.
Robinson said those grants could potentially be in the range from $5,000 to $20,000 per entity. The money could be available to people through that grant process by early 2025.
The 18th Street bridge could still be repaired, since Robinson said the governor’s office has pinpointed $1.4 million in replacement funding, which is planned to come through the Iowa Department of Transportation.
*In other news, Iowa compares poorly to most other states for rates of lung cancer.
The State of Lung Cancer report by the American Lung Association found Iowa ranked 39 out of 49 states for new rates of lung cancer.
Iowa also ranked worse than the national average when it comes to lung cancer survival rates and early diagnosis.
Kristina Hamilton is with the American Lung Association, and said policies to reduce radon exposure in buildings would be helpful. Additionally, cigarette use is also a leading cause of lung cancer in the state, so she recommends that policymakers raise the state tax on cigarettes.
*Iowa is experiencing a shortage of dentists who take patients with Medicaid coverage. Health officials in Northwest Iowa say children are especially impacted.
Tracy Gotto of the Buena Vista County Health Department says of the five dentists who serve the community of Storm Lake, no one accepts Medicaid patients, only the local health center.
“Dentists are just saying that they can't do it based on the reimbursement, and I think we're just having this crisis all over. We were sending kids to Fort Dodge at one point, and now Fort Dodge is saying they can't take any more kids either,” Gotto said.
The President of the State Dental Association, Chris Bogue, of Carroll, said his organization plans to push state lawmakers to act. He also wants the legislature to address a severe shortage of dental hygienists and assistants.
