Voters support conservation efforts

Correction: The Johnson County bond will cost taxpayers $7.09 per $100,000 in taxable property valuation. The Editorial has been corrected.

Although partisan elections divided Iowans Tuesday, they came together to provide funding for conservation projects.

In Johnson County, nearly 78% of voters approved a $30 million conservation bond intended to pay for projects protecting water quality, expanding public access to parks and trials and preserve natural areas for 20 years.

Story County voters also approved a $25 million conservation bond with 80% of the vote. The money will be used to improve county parks, water quality, wildlife habitat and expansion of trails and other outdoor recreational opportunities.

Johnson County was the first in Iowa to approve a conservation bond, approving a $20 million measure offered in 2008 with 61% of the vote. The money was used to buy 1,168 acres of land for public use, paid for 9.2 miles of trails and 16 other projects protecting natural resources, creating wildlife habitat and improving quality of life.

These votes come eight years after 74% of Linn County voters approved a $40 million conservation bond in 2016.

Johnson County voters are willing to pay a property tax increase of $7.09 annually per $100,000 of taxable valuation. In Story County, the property tax increase is $32 annually.

Each time a county bond for conservation is overwhelmingly approved in Iowa, it proves once again Iowans are willing to pay for improving and protecting the environment.

That reality makes it even more perplexing as to why the Iowa Legislature has refused to approve a three-eighths-of-a-cent sales tax to fill the fill the Iowa Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. The fund was added to the Iowa Constitution by an overwhelming statewide vote in 2010. The fund could provide hundreds of millions of dollars in future years for protecting water, expanding wildlife habitat and supporting outdoor recreation across the state.

Lawmakers have simply not seen it as a priority. Iowans in these communities have more vision than many of our elected leaders. They had the political will to raise their taxes for conservation. Most lawmakers lack the courage to do the same.

State Rep. Chuck Isenhart, D-Dubuque, had the courage to file legislation that would fill the trust fund. And this fall, Republicans used that action in dubious TV ads accusing Isenhart of supporting a tax increase, of course without context.

So Isenhart, among the state’s leading environmental advocates, lost his re-election bid Tuesday. It’s a major loss in the fight to clean up Iowa’s dirty water.

We hope new leaders step forward in the Legislature to carry on Isenhart’s fight.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com