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State auditor visits Washington
Rob Sand talks taxes, transparency and privatization on 99-county tour
WASHINGTON — Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand made a stop in Washington on Thursday, Sept. 5, where the only Democrat in an elected statewide office attracted a small crowd by the fountain in central park.
The state official opened with a handful of talking points about his office’s ongoing operations, including the Public Innovations & Efficiencies (or PIE) program, in which local governments submit examples of common-sense, money-saving innovations in their operations to the state, and are sometimes rewarded with pies hand-delivered by the auditor’s office.
The auditor also lamented moves by Koch Ag & Energy Solutions to buy one of the world’s largest fertilizer plants in the town of Wever in Lee County, which was built in 2017 with help from state tax incentives claiming it would spur competition. He, and some members of the audience, said the outcome looked like a favor from those in state government, and repeated that concern over efforts to privatize Iowa’s Medicaid system and pay double the previously expected amount for contractors to administer Iowa’s Education Savings Account system.
“The name of the game is privatization, to get your friends rich,” said one member of the audience, to which Sand replied, “I can’t argue with that. You can look all over the place and find plenty of examples.”
The auditor went on to highlight a recent report which found Iowans in rural areas paying considerably higher property taxes than those in urban areas, despite those rural areas being lower-income.
While some of that disparity stems from government’s inherent overhead costs, split among fewer people than in urban communities, Sand said he blamed “unfunded mandates” from Iowa’s Republican-controlled legislature for much of the gap.
“The state government (is) continually telling local government, ‘Hey, you have to do this and we’re not going to give you the money to do it,’” he said. “There’s a rule against that, which you’d think people who support small government would support … part of the problem is you have all these directives of the state telling local government what to do while also limiting their ability to have any revenue.”
Sand praised some efforts by the governor, however, like a push to remove four-year degree requirements from certain state government positions. He also backed calls for greater local government control, which are often touted by conservative officials, but have recently proved divisive among Republicans.
With his prepared remarks out of the way, Sand entertained a handful of questions from the group on a variety of topics for about a half-hour, before departing. He quickly shot down a question asking him about a run for governor in 2026, saying his 99-county tour was state-sponsored, and not a campaign stop.
Responding to other remarks, he took aim at some Republican lawmakers’ efforts to gradually roll back and eventually eliminate the state’s income tax.
“One of the core budgeting principals that I have always pointed to, and that all my Republican predecessors have always pointed to in this office, is you don’t use one-time money for ongoing expenses,” he said. “That’s what they’re doing. They had all this federal money come in, so they’re effectively socking it away, using it to keep the state afloat a few more years.”
Sand also took questions about Gov. Kim Reynolds’ rejection of an estimated $29 million in federal funding for EBT — a USDA-run food assistance program for children in poverty — instead using state dollars to pursue a food box program that more children qualify for, but provides families with preselected items, rather than spending vouchers to use on products of their choice.
Sand said the governor’s roughly $900,000 proposal was needlessly expensive for Iowa taxpayers, replaced dollars that would otherwise boost local economies, and denied recipients agency over their diets.
“Iowans pay federal taxes, and if the federal government says, ‘Hey, Iowa’s doing their share, we should send them $30 million to feed their kids,’ we should take it,” Sand said. “Do you know who has the power in the $30 million that comes from the feds? Parents: you just get the card, and you buy the food … in a competitive grant program, do you know who has the power then? The governor.”
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
