Use budget surplus for state needs

After months of talk about community and improving the space we share through speakers, conferences and programs sponsored by Prairiewoods and The Gazette, it seems we are working counter to the politics of the day.

We just learned that the marginalized again take the hit through the closing of the Abbe Center's residential program. Our streets are nearly impassable, the garbage pickup is limited and costly, yet we have an $800 million surplus in this state. Gov. Terry Branstad is encouraging a budget that speaks to expansion of industry and jobs but places huge cuts on help to mental health and our education system.

The cuts speak to the integrity and respect we have as Iowans to the “marginalized” and “uneducated.” We have never had to be embarrassed by Iowa's educational offerings until the past eight years when the severe cuts to education affected education from struggling rural schools to state universities.

Mental health is a joke in Iowa. How can evaluations for the elderly be unavailable? How can we put people needing 24-hour care in group homes? How can we cut respite care for families caring for disabled children at home? How can we explain the increase of mental health issues in the jails and prisons?

Bless state Sen. Rob Hogg. He speaks for all of us. Join the growing crowd of folks who care for Iowa and want to use the surplus funds for infrastructure, education and mental health.

Maridee Dugger

Cedar Rapids