Editorials: Floating the marina

Buena Vista County will spend more than $1 million to rehabilitate the Storm Lake Marina after agreeing to take over operation of the facility from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which long neglected it. Actually, Conservation Director Greg Johnson says, it will take more than $1 million to repair the building and grounds.

The initial funds will come from the Biden Administration’s Inflation Relief Act. The rest will come from property taxes, unless the county figures out another revenue source. No doubt the conservation department could use a Storm Lake office in the marina building. It would be helpful if there were a way to pay for it other than property taxes.

There is. Attract a private concessionaire.

You can have both.

Nate Jensen was just getting to the point of making money but the docks were caving in. With the docks fixed, the marina could make money with a place that served food and beer. It was on its way. The county can figure this thing out.

Property taxes are too high. Sales taxes are committed. Burgers, beer and bait could float the boat once you fix the roof. Time is of the essence.

They don’t have a clue

After having ranted in this space Friday about a ballooning property tax load under so-called conservative leadership, we came across stories Monday in The Des Moines Register and Cedar Rapids Gazette previewing the pending legislative session. The Republicans running the statehouse clearly don’t know what to do about a huge problem created under their watch.

“Everything is on the table” is the rote answer from leaders. Gov. Kim Reynolds isn’t saying much about property taxes. Iowans for Tax Relief wants a 2% cap on property tax growth (caps and freezes have been imposed before, and haven’t worked). Republicans disagree about nearly $100 million in aid to K-12 school districts to compensate for revenue lost to tax increment financing. That demonstrates what a big mess our property tax system is. If legislators know what they are doing, they are not saying and neither is the governor.

Our taxes shot up more than 70% after the legislature reformed the system in 2023. They said they knew at the time that corrections would be in order, which indicates that they did not know what they were doing then, and they still do not. You cannot cut income taxes and property taxes without causing some nasty bleeding in public schools. Switching to a flat income tax will cause a $600 million revenue drop this year, and a bigger drop next year. That is an election year. That is why Gov. Reynolds is not talking. Property taxes are a big problem without a painless solution.

Remember: Something will be done. Everything is on the table.

Rural health notions

Gov. Reynolds has indicated that maternal and rural health care access will be on her agenda. Rural hospitals are closing. Babies will not be born at Newton for lack of doctors. Nursing homes are shuttering. It’s been going on a long time, this drift in rural health care.

Eventually everyone gets an intimate experience with the health care system. We’re getting ours, old men that we are. And we have some good-faith observations about health care that the governor might consider.

First, the system is overwhelmed. A nurse told us it can take up to six months to get a surgery in Iowa City. That nurse is leaving this summer for Chicago. Health care professionals are leaving Iowa because of its backwards politics. Beware. We need more nurses, more lab personnel and more physicians. You should not have to wait several weeks to see a doctor in Storm Lake.

Second, invest money across the state in technology. The doctors in California tell us that the images in Sioux City are not good enough. The doctors in Iowa City tell us that the images from Storm Lake are not good enough. For a doctor to see those images can take up to a month. We need better, affordable technology in Storm Lake, Sioux City and Iowa City. The system rations technology that prevents rural patients, especially the elderly who lack transportation, from accessing care. We have not begun to exploit telemedicine.

Those are just two obvious things that most patients experience, and which cause tremendous frustration for caregiver and patient.

What we need most is a single-payer health care system. Medicare is tremendous. The governor should expand Medicaid to the extent that she can. We realize that she will not but that’s a big part of the problem with access. Small businesses like ours struggle with the cost of health insurance, and employees have a hard time digesting the deductibles and co-pays. It’s a terrible system that adds stress to an already stressed patient. It does not have to be so inhumane, in certain ways.