Doug Bishop picked one helluva time to run for mayor of Baxter. In addition to managing his office as the county treasurer and trying to find solutions to his town’s ongoing struggles with EMS service, state laws are making budgeting sessions extra tough for local governments these next few years.
He anticipates Baxter’s city officials will have to make some really hard decisions in the coming months and so forth, and it is in large part because of House File 718. Outcry from property assessments last year forced the Iowa Legislature to pass a bipartisan property tax reform law that have some city leaders on edge.
Newton City Administrator Matt Muckler has repeatedly criticized the law for penalizing city growth. Bishop is not too fond of the law either, and he lobbed his criticisms directly in the faces of Jasper County’s statehouse legislators during a legislative gathering Jan. 20 at Newton Public Library.
State Sen. Ken Rozenboom mentioned in a previous, unrelated topic that most Iowans — including himself — would not like it if the federal government told Iowa how to govern its state. Bishop suggested House File 718 does the same thing, only it is the state telling city and county governments what to do.