By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)
Lawmakers are entering the 16th week of this year’s legislative session with an overall state spending target, but House and Senate Republicans have not yet agreed on a property tax reform plan.
Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh indicated late last week that key lawmakers would spend the weekend ironing out the details of a $9.6 billion state budget. “One step closer to us getting out of here this year,” Klimesh said. “…Even though the path may appear to be simple it often lies hidden in complexities, you know. I think both the House and Senate are very optimistic that we’re close to coming to consensus on some of the other issues we have in front of us, which leads us to a path to adjourn.”
Major differences remain between the property tax plans House and Senate Republicans.favor. Senate Republicans propose a limit on property tax growth that would range between 2% and 5%, based on the inflation rate, while House Republicans propose a hard cap of 2% House Speaker Pat Grassley says there may be a way to produce “a hibrid” of the two plans, but he said Republicans in the House believe there must be firm constraints that provide certainty for property owners.
“I stand here with a level of optimism that we’ll be able to find a solution,” Grassley said late last week. “…We’ve traditionally been able to find a way to do hard things up here beween the Senate, the House and the governor over the last several years. In my most recent meetings with Senator Klimesh, I still have a positive feeling that we’re moving in the right direction.”
Democrats, who hold a minority of seats in the legislature, are not involved in the negotiations. House Democratic Leader Brian Meyer said it appears to him that Republicans “have no idea” what they’re going to do on property taxes.”Just in general they have not addressed quality of life issues here in Iowa,” Meyer said. “They have not addressed lowering costs.”
Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner told reporters Democrats joined Republicans to support the property tax plan that cleared the Senate earlier this month because it offered some flexibility so local governments could keep providing essential services. “I worry that in a rush to come to some conclusion that we may end up with something that’s less than ideal,” Weiner said.
Three Democrats joined most House Republicans last week to advance the House GOP’s property tax alternative. Republican Representative Carter Nordman of Dallas Center, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has expressed confidence a compromise can be reached. “It’s messy. It’s supposed to be,” Nordman said. “It’s supposed to be hard to get difficult bills across the finish line.”
Republican Senator Dan Dawson, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said last week that property tax reform is “not a buffet of items you get to pick and choose from” and senators did their “home work “and produced a plan that overhauls the property tax system.
