Iowans offer ideas on budget
.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
Each party in the Iowa House of Representatives has set up a Web site where citizens can make suggestions about how to cut spending or raise revenues, as the state grapples with budget problems.
The Democratic site address is www.iowahouse.org/openbudget. The Republican site is www.iowahouserepublicans.com/contact/budget-savings-ideas. Good news for the ideal of bipartisanship: The suggestions on the two sites are quite similar.
Here are some of the ideas:
• Set up toll booths on the interstate highways. One variation: Only charge out-of-state drivers.
• Suspend maintenance of bicycle trails for a year and concentrate on the roads and sidewalks instead.
• “I am a 30-year DOT (Iowa Department of Transportation) employee. … There are far too many do-nothing positions in the DOT that could easily be eliminated, saving millions of dollars.”
• Audit the recent tax returns of the upper 10 percent of Iowa’s taxpayers.
• Establish a whistle-blowers committee to reward everyone who reports waste of public money.
• “The salaries of Iowa’s elective officials are generally the second or third highest (compared with the seven surrounding states), and the judges are consistently the second highest. … The salaries need to be reined in.”
• A 10 percent pay cut for every state employee making a salary of more than $100,000.
• Stop allowing state employees to drive state vehicles to and from work.
• “I recently read that the state wants to provide ‘diversity’ training to all 21,000 state employees at a cost of $250,000. Surely the state can come up with a better way to spend $250,000.”
• Use more videoconferencing, rather than sending state employees to meetings that require driving and overnight stays.
• Eliminate most mowing along roads and highways.
Now let’s see if the legislators take any of these ideas to heart.