Hagenow Statehouse Report: Budget Targets in GOP-Controlled House Show Fiscal Restraint

By Rep. Chris Hagenow

House Republicans released our Fiscal Year 2014 budget targets this week, the first step toward building next year's budget. Through our proposed budget, we will honor our core commitments to Iowans, while remaining responsible stewards of the taxpayer’s money.

Two years ago, state government was mired in a deep budget deficit, following years of overspending. After we successfully tackled these budget problems, Iowans today have a state budget that is transparent, balanced and sustainable.

To build on this success, we will continue to follow three core principles: We will not spend more than the state collects in revenue, we will not spend one-time money for ongoing expenses and we will not intentionally underfund known obligations to balance the budget.

Our budget for the coming fiscal year spends 98 percent of estimated revenue. It is important to understand that we do not base our budget off of the broader available revenue amount, which includes the current ending fund balance. The ending fund balance is a one-time source of money and cannot be counted on in future years.

Any use of the ending fund balance to grow government and add ongoing state obligations is simply irresponsible.

Who's right – Republicans who want spend 98 percent of ongoing revenue, or Democrats, who propose spending 105 percent of ongoing revenue? Tell us below in the comments.

This balanced budget fully funds our core commitments and known obligations. These budget targets provide the funding necessary to maintain our commitment to education in Iowa’s universities, including an in-state tuition freeze. In this budget, our new mental health redesign is fully funded. We also provide new funds for our community colleges and local schools and at the same time increase property tax credits.

The budget targets released by Senate Democrats stand in stark contrast. Senate Democrats have proposed a budget which spends 105 percent of on-going revenue, and spends $301.7 million more than our anticipated revenue. This proposed budget represents a whopping 11 percent increase over the previous year.

This kind of overspending will predictably bring huge budget shortfalls in future years when slower revenue growth fails to meet this large expansion of government. This sort of recklessness will lead to future across-the-board cuts, which have an especially negative impact on local schools and ultimately on property taxpayers.

In Iowa, we can and must do better than the skyrocketing debt and deficit spending that we see in Washington D.C. We have come a long way over the last couple of years to align state spending with state revenue, and I look forward to continuing in that success.

(Rep. Chris Hagenow, R-Windsor Heights, represents the 43^rd District in the Iowa House of Representatives, where he is the majority whip. Contact him at 515-281-3221 or chris.hagenow@legis.iowa.gov.)