SSA, property taxes and obscenity among topics discussed by local legislators

In a quieter second legislative coffee session Saturday, State Senator Tom Shipley and State Representative Devon Wood discussed multiple topics related to bills on the state legislature schedule. Wayne Pantini introduced the meeting in the absence of Ellen Gerharz.

State-supplied aid

Both Shipley and Wood began their opening statements with perspectives on state-supplied aid. For local school districts, a decision on the SSA rate for the fiscal year limited plans for their yearly budgets. Shipley noted how many districts were hoping for an increase of 2.5-3% per-pupil. The state decision on April 7 limited the increase to 2%.

Wood and Shipley both said the 2% increase was less than either of them hoped for, but said districts should look for other options, including what’s available in the total package. Wood said the package approved in Iowa legislature, along with additional funding from related bills, will increase spending on education by 2.8% with $102 million new dollars.

Schools wishing for higher increases was acknowledged by both Iowa state legislators, with Wood offering her condolences while saying extra funding opportunities will benefit rural schools.

“Those dollars are doing more with less,” Wood said. “It’s helping our schools be more efficient.”

Shipley said districts shouldn’t worry as the package which did pass also includes additional funding for operational sharing (receiving an increase of $942,000 statewide) and school transportation equity aid (receiving an increase of $1.5 million), both of which can offer benefits to rural schools. For each individual school district, the amount of state funding can vary.

“When you hear 2%, that’s not completely the whole story,” Shipley said. “There are parts in there that add money to schools, so the percentage in there is actually higher, but that’s not the way it gets published.”

The transportation equity aid is meant to assist schools with high transportation costs by offering payments outside of the SSA. Shipley explained his reasoning, saying how funding for transportation shouldn’t come from the classroom. However, Shipley did note how Creston wouldn’t receive funding for transportation equity considering their below-average transportation costs.

Creston also doesn’t have any operational sharing with a superintendent and wouldn’t receive an incentive, something Shipley learned when he asked the audience about the topic during Saturday’s meeting.

On the topic of education, Wood reiterated her support for what she called her “double ding” bill, a law which would limit the effect of dropout students on school districts’ performance scores. If a student who already dropped out during the year were to return to the district and drop out again, the student’s scores would count twice, a detrimental effect the bill would eliminate. The bill passed the Iowa House and is eligible to be seen by the Senate.

With SSA now set, additional education bills can be analyzed, including the involvement of early childhood education bills. A question was given to the two legislators around information for early childhood education budgets. Both Wood and Shipley offered limited information around these additional bills, with Shipley saying he “didn’t have a good answer” and Wood saying more information will be available in the next few weeks.

Property tax

Property tax proposals were touched on by Shipley in his opening statements and later by both legislators during questions. The property tax proposal seen for this legislative session proposes the removal of the rollback program for property taxes.

Residential property taxes are calculated by assessing the market value of a property. These property taxes can increase if assessors believe the value has gone up. However, the rollback system limited the aggregate value of residential property increases to 3% each year. This system would be removed under the proposal, allowing for property taxes to grow by a larger margin.

However, limitations and new caps would be put in place for some properties, including measures that cap the increase of most property tax levy rates to 2% each year. This system would be in place over the next five years.

On the subject of property taxes, Shipley noted an increase to the homestead property tax exemption benefit from $25,000 to $50,000. This increase will lead to less property taxes in exemptions for homestead properties.

Wood shared sentiments about the property tax proposal, including giving support for more detailed and transparent notices. She gave an example of the Lenox school district’s public notices, saying how the proposed tax levy value was higher than what was approved, confusing constituents.

Shipley redirected attention of property taxes to local legislature, saying how changes in the state legislature will help cushion local government to meet their budgets. He described legislators’ opinion on the subject as the “biggest issue” they’re working on, and how the “convoluted” system needs to be reworked.

Other bills

In one law which he said introduced a conversation of “divisiveness,” Shipley gave his support for a bill he manages which limits the spread of obscene material to minors. The law establishes criminal penalties for this behavior.

Obscene material is defined by Iowa Code as “any material depicting or describing the genitals, sex acts, masturbation, excretory functions or sadomasochistic abuse which the average person... would find appeals to the prurient interest and is patently offensive” if the material is without “serious literary, scientific, political or artistic value.”

First offenders of spreading obscene material to minors will be charged with a serious misdemeanor, raised to an aggravated misdemeanor for the second and raised to a Class D felony for a third each following offense. Minimum confinement sentences can be set for subsequent offenses.

Wood expressed support for a bill which would coalesce ambulance services, whether volunteer or connected to certain hospitals, under one service. Dispatching would hypothetically be done under a single location monitoring where ambulances are available from multiple different sources.

“We have a lot of different entities running our ambulance services,” Wood said. “We need some cohesiveness. We’ve got some that work together regionally... but we’re not interconnected. Dedicating a staff person so that we can have more outreach. What I like to say, every mile is going to be covered.”

Broadband access was discussed, with Wood wanting to push forward legislation which would hold broadband companies accountable for improperly marketed internet speeds. Wood is a part of the economic growth and technology committee which is preparing a few bills which could apply closer regulations and additional dollars, but she had doubts.

The viability of accountability was presented as an issue by Wood, with how accountability checks are set up being “impossible” to achieve at points. Variable internet speed and temporary outages can cause more problems for broadband companies if they aren’t meeting their intended speeds because of incidents out of their control. One example Wood gave was a bird knocking down an internet line as an incident which would punish the broadband company.

Wood’s human trafficking bill mentioned during March’s legislative coffee session was merged into a larger bill surrounding human trafficking. A continued spotlight on the issue was encouraged by Wood despite the uncomfortable topic.

In an additional public notice, Wood also reminded Iowans to be vigilant in avoiding scams, referring to Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s resources for recognizing and reporting scams.

Budgets for all these bills are being discussed across both the Iowa House and Senate, which can hold up some bills. Wood described narrowing down budgets as necessary, describing the situation festively. She reminded people to have a plan involving who to call when needed.

“We’re working out the bottom dollar for each budget is, having those conversations between the House and Senate before we start passing things,” Wood said. “Or else, we’re going to have a Christmas tree and fitting those things willy-nilly.”