County government responsive

By Kim Painter

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Now that James Strohman's guest column has been published in The Gazette (“Eliminate county duplication,” June 10) after essentially the same op-ed was published in the Des Moines Register, I feel justified in having my say.

Full disclosure: I serve as county recorder in Johnson County. That said, before I became recorder, I was a vocal critic of all levels of government as a journalist/commentator, so I've studied the ins and outs of the various levels of government in our state.

What Strohman baldly proposes is nothing less than the centralized pirating of local taxpayers for the sake of an inefficient, increasingly distant and disconnected system of state government. He overtly refers to us, in fact, as a “treasure chest” on which he clearly has designs. Most people in cities and counties would not relish the prospect of diminished local services for the sake of fattening a state government that too frequently has tin ears in dealing with our concerns.

I often joke that, in county government, we are close enough to residents that “they can actually get their hands around our necks.” And it's true. If there is dissatisfaction, it registers immediately and the response is also immediate. If there are good ideas and positive synergies from which to benefit, we can put those ideas in motion in a quick and nimble fashion, always for less money than the state would spend to do the same.

The fact that county government was created in another era is irrelevant: The question is, what is it doing now to decrease costs and expand service options for fiscally stressed taxpayers? The answers are nothing short of breathtaking.

County treasurers have placed taxes and motor vehicle registration options online. Recorders have a statewide e-recording system that is saving financial institutions thousands of dollars formerly spent on postage (frequently at overnight rates for important mortgage documents), courier services and paper. This system is the first of its kind in the nation. No other state has come close to accomplishing the same feat.

With each election cycle, we see what so many auditors have done - election returns update instantaneously online. You can request absentee ballots online. Supervisors have streaming audio and/or video of all meetings, along with comprehensive archives of minutes. Never has there been so much transparency or so many 24/7 service options, and it's all being done for a very low-dollar cost. Across counties, staffing is being pared down as technology advances.

The fact is, county government in Iowa has been every bit as energetic as comparably sized private enterprises in responding to marketplace needs and leveraging technology for process improvements and service expansion, and I don't see that trend slowing down any time soon. We cater to the marketplace because we exist within it.

Our survival depends on response times and product offerings that are satisfactory to our customers. Those customers cross all political, socio-economic, racial and other boundaries, making county government a great value for every citizen-taxpayer.

We must always discuss freely the structure of county government (and all government, Strohman), and be open to changes in form and function. But we should also do what we can to preserve it from the predatory moves of a state bureaucracy that obviously has its eyes on a quick fix to its own woes.

Kim Painter is Johnson County recorder and past-president of the Iowa State Association of Counties. Comments:

painterkim@msn.com