Republicans on an Iowa Senate committee have advanced a bill to phase out 150-million dollars in annual state payments to cities, counties and school districts. The payments were promised in 2013 to make up for the cut in commercial property taxes that state lawmakers ordered. Senator Charles Schneider, a Republican from West Des Moines, says “no one realistically expected” the state to keep making these payments.
The phase out would begin in July of 2019. For areas of the state where commercial property taxes are more robust, the state payments would be eliminated in three years. Slow-growth areas of the state would have six years to adjust to the end of this state support. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says many cities and counties will be forced to raise taxes on homeowners and farmers to make up for the declining state payments.
House Speaker Linda Upmeyer says she and other Republicans in the HOUSE are interested in phasing out these payments, but are still considering various options for accomplishing that goal.
