Budget woes continue to plague state government in Iowa. Due to the nation’s economic recession, state revenues have declined and the Iowa Legislature and Gov. Chet Culver are looking for ways to cut spending to make the books balance, hopefully without increasing taxes. The legislature and the governor will have to work things out this session, and like all state agencies the Iowa Department of Agriculture is being targeted with proposed budget cuts.
“The governor’s budget that he announced last week has bad news in it for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship,” says Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. “It looks like we are potentially hit with a few more job losses but we’ll see how that all plays out during the 2010 legislative session. Either myself or our department’s representatives will certainly be there at the Legislature when they discuss these budget issues and we will do all we can to try to make sure agriculture is treated fairly and equitably in the new budget.”
Ag department’s budget would be same as it was in 1994
Northey issued the following statement regarding the state budget proposal for fiscal year 2011, which was released by Iowa Gov. Chet Culver last week.
“The governor’s proposal for the next fiscal year would mean that it is 1994 for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship once again. The governor’s proposed $16.8 million general fund appropriation is the same level of funding the state agriculture department received in 1994. Unfortunately, costs have increased significantly since 1994 and spending for the rest of state government has grown 48% in that time.”
Northey adds, “Due to built-in increases in spending that our state agriculture department has no control over, we are actually looking at $3.29 million budget gap that needs to be filled. These built-in increases include two previously negotiated salary increases, increased health insurance costs, replacing one-time funding sources that we were directed by the Legislature to use in the current fiscal year, and replacing the savings that resulted from the five furlough days taken by AFSCME covered employees.”
Iowa Department of Ag may have to eliminate 50 positions
Northey also points out, “In addition, the governor’s proposal to reduce the ‘Environment First’ funding that our department receives by $1.87 million will not only impact the number of soil and water conservation projects we will be able to assist farmers with, but it will mean a $187,000 cut to fund the staff that are on the ground helping farmers design and put into place those conservation practices in the state of Iowa.”
He emphasizes that the state agriculture department has already experienced five layoffs and has currently has 44 open positions, which is over 10% of the department’s workforce. “If the governor’s proposal is implemented we will need to reduce staffing by approximately 50 positions,” says Northey.
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