Branstad says: State is facing challenging times

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad brought his ?condition of the state? message to Mt. Pleasant Wednesday, addressing the Mt. Pleasant Noon Rotary Club.

Branstad said he is proud of his administration?s accomplishments over the last six years, but said governing last year and in the immediate future will be a challenge due to the farm economy and the state?s budget crunch.

?We lost 30 million birds to bird flu last year, which just added to a slowing of the farm economy,? he said. ?Farm income isn?t good right now ? corn, soybean, beef and pork prices are below the cost of production.?

Despite a sour farm economy, which a state such as Iowa is dependent upon, the governor said, ?Iowa is in a better financial position than a lot of other states. According to the Wall Street Journal, Iowa is the third best-managed state in the country. It hasn?t been easy, though, and we have had to make some tough decisions.?

One of those tough decisions yet to make this year is supplemental school aid funding, formerly allowable growth, to the state?s PK-12 school districts. In his condition of the state address to the Iowa Legislature in January, Branstad recommended a 2.45 percent increase. Coupled with the state?s $50 million teacher leadership compensation package, that would mean state funding to school districts would be $145 million or by far the largest chunk of the state budget, he noted.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives have recommended two percent school funding, and the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a bill with four-percent funding. Branstad said he thinks the House and Senate are close to a compromise.

?I have been told by my staff that they may be getting close to a compromise, and I think they will compromise at about 2.5 percent,? the governor predicted. ?It will make the budget real tight but manageable.?

Branstad said that he wishes the school funding question was settled and said next year, he will recommend a two-year funding plan ?because schools have to know sooner.?

He talked at length about his initiative to use a portion of the state school tax for improving the state?s waterways, calling it ?the biggest and boldest initiative I have ever made. It is my top priority of the session.?

The plan, which area state legislators have said has gone over like a lead balloon in both chambers, would allocate the first $10 million of growth in the school tax to improving waterways.

As a tradeoff, Branstad he would recommend extending the local option school tax until 2059. Currently, it is set to sunset in 2029.

Since 2009, the Mt. Pleasant Community School District has received $12.8M through the state school option tax, Branstad said. At the current rate, the district would receive $31.8M through the year 2029. Branstad said that if his waterway cleanup plan was funded through the school tax, Mt. Pleasant will suffer a loss of only $900,000 ($30.9M) in tax funds.

In a related matter, Branstad said he would back a plan that school sales tax money could be used for transportation if a school district?s transportation costs exceed the state average. As of now, school transportation costs can only be paid through the district?s general fund.

He also touched on the state privatizing the Medicaid system, basically saying the state had no choice.

?Costs have gone through the roof on Medicaid,? he explained. ?Most other states have done this already. This will save us over $100 million. If we didn?t have that savings, we would be in a world of hurt with education (funding).?

Branstad also touted his job-creation efforts. He said that when he took office, state unemployment was at six percent and now stands at 3.4 percent. ?In the past five years, we have created over 220,000 jobs.?

After his remarks, the governor took a few questions from the audience. One of those attending asked the governor his opinion on this year?s presidential race.

While saying he didn?t like the nasty tone in some of the advertisements and debates, Branstad said that anger among the masses has fueled the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

The silver lining in the campaign, as seen by him, is the voter turnout at primaries and caucuses around the nation.

?I think we?re in for a wild election, but that is because we?re facing challenging times, and I am really worried about the federal over-reach of the current administration,? Branstad concluded.