Culver finalizing fiscal 2010 budget

DES MOINES – An optimistic Gov. Chet Culver finalized work late Tuesday on a nearly $6.3 billion state spending plan for fiscal 2010 that he believes will create needed jobs and help disaster-ravaged communities recover.

“In a year when so many Iowans are still picking up the pieces from last year's floods and with so many Iowans feeling the effects of this national recession, we were able to lay the groundwork for Iowa's rebirth,” Culver said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

Culver signed the final pieces of his $830 million I-JOBS infrastructure bonding plan during a ceremony at the Des Moines City Hall where he predicted the Legislature's action will help Iowa rebound from the current national economic downturn faster.

The governor spent the rest of the day pouring over details of a fiscal 2010 spending plan that allocated about $135 million less from the state general fund but relied on $529 million in federal stimulus help to preserve jobs and state services.

“It's a responsible budget that protects our priorities in renewable energy and health care and job creation,” he said.

The governor used his line-line veto authority to remove sections of seven budget bills that he found objectionable. Culver rejected a legislative cost-saving idea to keep state vehicles for longer periods of time and issued an executive order requiring all state agencies to track reimbursements paid to state employees for meals, travel and other work-related costs in lieu of a piecemeal approach contained in selected budget areas.

In taking action on a “catchall” standings appropriation, the governor let stand a section authorizing cities across the state to charge a franchise fee – action that appeared to allow all Iowa cities to charge the fee and provide that the 20 cities that already do so could raise their fees.

A separate provision of Senate File 478 allowed county boards of supervisors to cut their pay without affecting other county officials. Under current law, the supervisors have the option of reducing the recommended raise for themselves, but that decision applies equally to all county elected officials.

During a lunch-hour ceremony Tuesday, Culver signed two budget bills – one that appropriated more than $424 million of the federal recovery funds and a separate measure that appropriated more than $450 million from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) to be used for economic development and infrastructure projects.

Minority Republicans have been critical of Democrats' level of fiscal 2010 spending which relies heavily on one-time funding sources to pay for ongoing expenses and their plan to borrow $830 million for a variety of infrastructure initiatives. GOP leaders and other critics predict state government is headed for massive spending cuts or a major tax increase in the not-too-distant future.

Culver dismissed the “doom and gloom” predictions, saying the state would face a far-worse future had the Legislature not approved his bonding proposal. He also noted that general-fund spending was cut and state government is slated to end fiscal 2010 with a $100 million ending balance and $400 million in surplus reserve.

“This will allow us to invest in hundreds of projects all over our state, create thousands of jobs, allow communities to recover from the floods. I feel very good about the session,” the governor said.

“The scary thing would have been what if we didn't pass it. What if we didn't create our own economic stimulus package to invest in infrastructure and create jobs? This will only be a bonus in terms of letting our state to get out of this economic downturn more quickly,” he added.