Director of Iowa Dept. of Management comes to Mt. Pleasant

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Facts and figures do tell the clearest truths. Those were the sentiments echoed by Iowa Department of Management Director, Dave Roederer, as he spoke to the Mt. Pleasant Kiwanis Club on Monday afternoon on the state?s current financial situation.

In his approximately one-hour presentation, Roederer dished out a plethora of financial figures detailing the state?s current and expected financial health, while also pointing to facts regarding ways the state could potentially solve some of its more glaring financial issues.

?One of my main jobs is to make sure that we dial in and stay on track as much as possible with our state budget, which when you take into account the 55,500 budget items we have to account for every year, makes it a tough but important responsibility,? Roederer said.

According to him, Iowa?s major revenue sources can be boiled down to mainly three categories. Income makes up roughly 54 percent of the state?s entire revenue, sales tax brings in roughly 34 percent, and corporations make up six percent of state revenue. By Roederer?s calculations, he predicts the state will bring in about $7.4 billion in revenue this year alone, which is roughly $49.3 million less than the Revenue Estimating Conference had anticipated last March.

Multiple state reports have cited the slight back slide in agricultural income and the state?s relative economic uncertainty being due to the current presidential race, and current troublesome interest rates and international trade prices. Currently, Iowa leads the nation in corn, hog and egg production, and low prices mean farmers are earning less income on which to pay taxes. Roederer also cited that Iowa farmers are not spending as much on farming equipment, which cuts into income for major farming companies, resulting in a drop in corporate and sales taxes.

On the expenses side of things, Iowa spends roughly 56 percent of its budget on education (K-12 and state universities), and roughly 25 percent on health and human services. From 2009 to 2016, Roederer cited $8 billion has gone into the school systems in the state.

In regards to higher education, Roederer says the state has seen a major shift in numbers that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

?In our three state universities, the cost over a 20-year period of time has increased 311 percent. For non-profit schools like Iowa Wesleyan, the cost has increased 200 percent,? said Roederer. ?And if you compare that to household incomes in the state for the same period of time, household incomes have only gone up 87 percent. School aid has only gone up 56 percent.?

Furthermore, data shows college enrollment has increased 12 percent, but in-state college enrollment for Iowa has declined over four percent. Community college enrollment has increased 32 percent, but 25 percent of total enrollment in Iowa?s community colleges consists of current high school students.

?All this data shows that education is a huge factor in our state?s budget, and it is a huge indicator of the work that many colleges have cut out for them, especially in terms of getting more of our Iowa students enrolled in Iowa schools,? Roederer says.

Moving on to Medicaid, Medicare and other managed care issues in the state, Roederer says the facts are fairly clear as to the glaring issues in our state?s budget.

?Medicaid is the fastest growing part of our state budget. From 2009 to 2016, it increased 67 percent,? Roederer said. ?It is largely controlling the state budget, and is federal requirement for us.?

In addition, Roederer says that some of the state?s current health and human services programs need to be more closely addressed without political referencing, saying there are issues within the system that should be addressed for the good of Iowans and not for political parties.

?For a single parent making $25,000 a year who might be receiving food stamps, heating assistance and that sort of thing, in order to better themselves, that parent would have to start making $44,000 a year. Because under our current system, the minute you start making a dollar more an hour, you lose about three or four dollars in assistance,? explained Roederer. ?Thus, we have trapped people in our system that they can?t get out of to better themselves.?

To fix this and balance the healthcare and human services budget, Roederer suggests talks regarding these issues must be done ?free of political leanings? by simply looking at the facts at hand to come up with a more economical system that allows working Iowans to better their financial situation through hard work and dedication to their given profession.

Overall, Roederer offered Kiwanians hope for the state?s financial situation, saying he believed the state would have to ?make some hard, but necessary? decisions to fix areas in the state budget that need to be more balanced, and continue programs that seem to be working with the state?s current financial needs.

?Iowans have to get involved and let their opinions and voices be heard, but for the right reasons,? Roederer said. ?Grass root efforts are a great way to begin positive change, I think. As Iowans, we all have to come together, look at the facts, and decide we want our state to be the best it can be, and I believe that we can do that.?