Republicans want to cut funds to counties they don’t control

A recent article in The Gazette discussed a bill in the legislature that would stop Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) funding for the four largest counties in Iowa. The Iowa Republican-controlled legislature wants to cut off all IEDA funding for Linn, Johnson, Polk, and Scott Counties for three years. The Republican logic is that rural counties are somehow being shortchanged by the current system.

According to the article those four counties currently account for about 33% of the population of Iowa, more than 34% of the tax revenues for the state, and about 42% of the economic output for the state, while receiving less than 22% of the current IEDA funding. Yet the Republicans want to cut that funding to zero.

Seems to me that the remaining 95 counties in Iowa are underperforming. Logically you would send more IEDA funding to those four counties than they have been receiving as they seem to be getting a better return on our investment than the rest of the state, and have been not receiving their fair share back.

The Republican Party has had complete control of this state for almost 10 years. Any problems we have now are a result of their actions or inactions. All this bill will do is make things worse. What they are proposing regarding IEDA funding is just spite to hinder counties they don’t control.

Scott Byram

Iowa City