State budget committee indicates more cuts are ahead

DES MOINES – About 10 percent of Department of Corrections employees have applied to take advantage of the state's new early retirement program, but that won't be enough to prevent layoffs, the head of the House Justice Systems budget committee warned Tuesday.

“There will be real cuts, definitely,” Rep. Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, said after the House Appropriations Committee approved a $484 million 2011 Justice Systems budget. It cuts spending on the departments of Corrections, Justice, Inspections and Appeals, Public Defense and Public Safety by $31.3 million from the level the Legislature approved last year.

“That's a drastic hit,” he said, adding it means lay-offs and more mandatory unpaid days for state employees.

The “hit” was repeated as the committee forwarded a $150.3 million Judicial Branch budget to the full House. That's a decrease of $9.9 million and 184 FTEs compared to the current year, according to the Legislative Services Agency.

The cuts are a sign of what's to come as the Legislature begins approving 2011 budgets. State revenues have declined and lawmakers have no choice but to cut budgets as they balance the state's $5.3 billion general fund budget.

“It becomes frustrating when we're trying to just make ends meet and we're seeing declining revenues,” Taylor said. “We just try to piece together everything we can with money, marbles and chalk to get the budget balanced without raising taxes.”

The cuts in the Justice System budget are a “double whammy,” Rep. Gary Worthan, R-Storm Lake, said. “There's going to be a lot of experience, a lot of institutional knowledge lost.”

Taylor said 188 correctional employees have applied for early retirement, a plan. Lawmakers approved a plan earlier this session to pay health insurance premiums for five years and a portion of the salaries of employees at least 55-years-old and with 10 years of state employment if they retire this year. The application deadline in April 15, he said.

Lawmakers may raise some court fees to provide more funds for the Judicial Branch, according to Sen. Tom Hancock, D-Epworth, chairman of the Senate Justice Systems budget committee. Last year, the Legislature raised court fees by about $15 million. Judicial officials have identified some fees that do not further impair access to justice that could be raised to generate more revenue.

At current budget levels, Hancock is worried about the public safety as well as the safety of correctional officers. IN some cases, he said, two officers oversee 500 inmates.

“I'm truly worried,” Hancock said.

Although he shares Hancock's concern, Taylor insisted the public will be protected.

“These are essential government functions,” he said. “You have to protect the public and we will do that.”

However, Taylor said, “The bottom line is we're taking a hit because of the drastic decline in revenues. If that continues to decline, public safety will continue to suffer.”

Minority Republicans on the Appropriations Committee voted against the budgets and an ag budget as well. They objected to approving any budget before seeing what the entire budget looks like and how it will be funded.

“We believe Iowans have the right to know what the entire budget looks like before we adopt pieces,” Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, said.

“It's political,” Taylor said, adding, “I've been in the minority and you find a point that you argue. Right now, they are arguing they haven't been a part of the overall budget process. They haven't seen the whole thing.”

An area of the budget lawmakers have yet to resolve deals with teacher pay raises that lawmakers approved over two years to move Iowa salaries closer to the national average, said Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A bill approved by the education budget subcommittee exempted increased teacher pay from Gov. Chet Culver's 10 percent across-the-board cut – which Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said was the legislative intent.

However, Dvorsky said that intent was misinterpreted by the state Department of Education in advising school districts to apply the cut and it would be difficult for schools to make that adjustment with less than four months left in the fiscal year.

“Now we need to deal with that,” he said. “We aren't quite there yet. We're trying to see what we can do with that. A lot of these things are moving targets. It might be one where we may have to leave what's happened now and go forward from this year.”

Winckler expressed concern that applying the across-the-board cut to teacher pay raises could violate existing contracts. “You would have to go through additional negotiation. That in essence creates an even larger problem,” she said.

Minority Republicans who opposed the bill and the teacher pay provision warned it could force a $24 million property tax increase.

Gazette reporter Rod Boshart contributed to this story.

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