State should stand behind its word

By Ames Tribune

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A customer calls up a key vendor and asks the price for the widget parts he needs for his own factory. He's given a price over the phone, and says, great, I'll take a thousand. Based on the price he's paying for parts, he sets his own price and takes orders for his widgets.

Before too long, however, the vendor discovers the price quoted was low by half.

What does the vendor do? Does she call up her customer and say, sorry, Bub, you'll have to pay me twice what we quoted you? Or does she honor the price her employee gave the customer?

What does the customer do? Pay the vendor even though it puts him in the red? Break his price agreement with his customers? Cancel his customers' orders?

Most business owners - the good ones, anyway - would stand behind the information an employee gave a customer, even if it's wrong, and especially if that customer relied in good faith on that information.

Story County now finds itself in the customer's place, except it isn't the price of widgets the county is concerned about, it's care and services for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

A while back, Story County called the Iowa Department of Human Services about its tax levy for mental health services. Essentially, the county wanted to lower the property tax levy, and the state said, no problem. So that's what the county did, easing the tax burden slightly for property owners.

Now, however, Story County has been informed the information the county received was wrong, that lowering the tax levy means the county loses out on between $1 million and $2 million in state funding for mental health services.

The state maintains the rules about the tax levy have been on the books for years, and Story County should have known that. The state employee who gave out the wrong information is out of the office. And, initially anyway, the state told the county to go pound sand.

It's true that Story County officials should know the law. It was risky to base a decision with such potential consequences on a single phone call. We hope the county has learned an important lesson.

But the state's position is unreasonable. A state employee gave Story County information that it relied upon to set its tax levy.

Like a good business owner, the state should stand behind the information coming from its employees, even if it's wrong.

Fortunately, Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, has taken up this cause. She reported Friday she is working on language for one of the state budget bills that would restore the portion of Story County's mental health funding that was lost through this misunderstanding.

Lawmakers still are wrangling over Iowa's budget and have some serious differences that must be ironed out before the budget will pass. Whatever budget bills finally land on the governor's desk, however, we hope and trust that Story County's missing funding will be restored.