Budget issues could and should have been resolved during the just-finished legislative session, but they were not, so Gov. Tom Vilsack has called us back to try again.

The budget that passed – without my support – is devastating to Iowa State University. They will receive an appropriation only equal to its 1998 budget. ISU has 2,439 more students than they had in 1998 and many other rising costs.

Students are having a difficult time finding the classes they need to graduate in a timely manner and tuition increases are causing many of them to work more and study less. The governor understands that Iowa State and the other Regents schools cannot continue to serve the students with another year of serious reduction in financial resources.

The budget, adopted by the Republican majority over the solid objection of Democrats, would strangle and cripple Iowa’s programs and the employees working to protect our children and senior citizens who need assistance and protection.

The social workers I have visited within Story County are very stressed about the increasing needs of some Iowa families. As the economy has weakened and the number of families in need has increased, the state budget has provided significantly less funding for these programs. Employees are being required to take unpaid time off the job, giving them even less time to work with this increased number of families.

I fought and voted against this budget because it will cause the Ames Public Schools to lay off teachers and cut back on many important services. The quality education that we take pride in, is eroding to the detriment of our young people. Many schools across the state are likely to raise property taxes because of reductions in state support for schools.

The Iowa teenagers who worked so hard to plan meaningful tobacco prevention programs could not believe that the legislature cut their little budget in half. We should be spending more money on prevention, not less, in order to persuade our young people to stay away from a lifelong addiction to tobacco.

The bill, asking for a 50 cent tax on cigarettes, offered by Sen. Johnie Hammond and me, would have filled the gap in the difference between the Governor’s budget and the Republicans’. The added benefit of this tax, when it has been used in other states, is that it decreases the number of young people who can afford to smoke.

The Governor needs your support to convince the majority party to use the “rainy day” funds which we have created to be used in just this type of budget crisis. We could also use a small part of the funds created by the tax on motor vehicle sales. This fund has been used in the past for public safety functions and could be used again to help us balance the budget.

The priorities of Iowans are quality schools and secure, healthy families.

We all dip into our savings to help our children through college or when they are in trouble or when they are sick. The people of Iowa recognize that our state is in a similar circumstance, and they are willing to use the “savings accounts” of the state to carry us through these troubling times, allowing us to continue quality education and services to Iowa families.

Over the years, the majority party in the legislature has enacted dozens of tax cuts totaling more than $800 million in lost revenue annually. Refusing to accept their responsibility for the revenue shortfall we are now suffering from, their plan has been to cut programs and fire employees rather than use our rainy day emergency funds to smooth out the dips in state income.

That is hardly good financial planning, and certainly not my concept of good government. Give your opinion to Vilsack.

Jane Greimann

State Representative, Ames