By Mari Radtke
Zach Dieken, State Representative heading into his sophomore year as a state elected official, attended the O’Brien County Supervisors meeting on December 12. He was there to listen. He said, “Last year was an eye-opening experience for me,” referring to his freshman year in the legislature. He explained he had already visited with Osceola County Board.
He said he was just there to hear the board out. He wants to know what issues are important to the governing bodies he represents.
Some discussion of the value of a compensation board was had with Dan Friedrichsen voicing strong support for the structure.
Dennis Vanden Hul spoke about talk in Des Moines about county carry over. That led to a discussion of mental health funding, and the downward pressure on carryover balances. Vanden Hul described how the carry over limits would potentially inhibit seamless operation of mental health regions. If the fund balance concerns spread to other county departments, the effects could potentially disrupt local governance.
Friedrichsen stated, “my biggest concern is it’s seem that at every turn of the hat, trying to take local control away.” Dieken replied, “I was told when I went down there that the state likes local control in government, and no they don’t.’” The comment drew laughs and positive reinforcement.
The governor’s realignment bill was 3000-pages. Dieken explained that because of his constituents reaching out to him with concerns over the restructuring he began to look into the matter. The bill is so large it was broken into pieces and distributed in parts to various committees. Because of his research he found parts of the bill that would be harmful downstream and that caused him to vote against it. He went on to say that is why he came to the board.
Nancy McDowell shared that her role on the “YES” center board is seeing its biggest fears from the realignment coming true, but declined to explain further. Apparently, Iowa code does not permit the legislature to impose mandates on local governments, but that does not stop it.
Barb Rohwer explained the effect of HF 718 (property tax reduction) on local governments. She shared how property tax value growth presents a punishing effect on local governments. She also shared how the state can intervene in the event of assessments not being inline with market value. Further explanation about how growth is penalizing to a local government came from questions from Dieken. There are concerns about individual communications to property owners about taxing bodies’ levies being able to be done timely. The expense is extraordinary.
Other discussion over public safety and accountability of local governments were held.
The new session begins in early January.