Community Commonwealth May Provide Quality and Efficiency at a Reasonable Cost

by Jim Paprocki

Most of us would like to see a reduction in Black Hawk county property taxes. The main issue is how we provide quality efficient services at a reasonable cost.

A recent Courier editorial (June 27, 2003) applauded efforts by the City of Waterloo and Black Hawk County to work together for a joint personnel director.

“Once again, Waterloo and Black Hawk County have an opportunity to show leadership in creative service to constituents through a joint operation.”

We need to take city–county cooperation one step further through a referendum to establish a charter commission. The commission would be charged with the responsibility to present information on alternative forms of county government, including community commonwealth, and the city-county merger of operations.

In our current political climate the legislature will continue to decrease spending, forcing counties to either increase property taxes or decrease spending on country services. The legislature has shown a lack of leadership toward finding creative solutions to hold the line on spending while maintaining sufficient revenue to counties.

The Board of Supervisors has minimal discretion in adopting a budget based on state mandates that place an increasing burden on counties. There had been considerable discussion during the recent budgeting process on ways to balance county expenditures. We have seen efforts to privatize services, reduce human services funding, and across the board cuts on county services.

There has been an urgency to make short-term policy decisions based on fewer state revenues. What is missing is a proactive long-term solution to maintain quality and efficiency in Black Hawk County services.

I would acknowledge the Board of Supervisors has agonized in making these decisions. Nonetheless, difficult decisions are not those associated with making reductions in county expenditures. Difficult decisions are those involved in maintaining quality services with fewer state revenues. Leadership requires advocacy with the business community and citizen groups to maintain quality services by identifying other sources of revenue.

We need to encourage a partnership among local communities and Black Hawk County. There are several layers of government -- municipal, township, and county -- that could be reorganized resulting in a reduction in property taxes.

The Iowa Code (Chapter 331.260) states that under a community commonwealth, “a county and one or more cities or townships within the county, … may unite to establish an alternative form of local government for the purpose of making more efficient use of their resources by providing for the delivery of regional services.” This allows cities to maintain their autonomy by providing those services not transferred to the community commonwealth government.

The main issue is how we provide quality efficient services at a reasonable cost. Our main focus needs to be government services that are responsive to the needs of our citizens.

--Jim Paprocki is a former Green Party candidate for the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors.