Not even death spares you from Iowa's budget cuts

The time has come for Iowans to contact their state lawmakers and demand concrete answers to this one question: How small should Iowa government be to satisfy you? 

Some members of the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature continue to talk about reducing the size of state government. Yet elected officials have succeeded in making numerous cuts over the past few years.

Now there are as few as five state troopers on duty overnight to patrol all of Iowa. The state human services department has lost hundreds of workers. Iowa has closed dozens of unemployment offices, two mental health facilities, a juvenile home, seven transportation maintenance garages and two driver’s license stations. 

Is that small enough for current elected officials? 

Because government may now be too small for many Iowans, including those with complaints about a nursing home, those seeking a court date or those trying to get someone on the phone to ask questions about their now privatized Medicaid health insurance. 

And not even death can deliver people from the negative consequences of failing to adequately fund state government.

A shortage of forensic pathologists at the Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office is delaying autopsies, which can leave families waiting weeks for their loved one’s remains. This means not only waiting for answers about a death, but also waiting to schedule funerals and burials. 

The backlog of autopsies is now threatening the state lab’s national accreditation. The National Association of Medical Examiners recommends pathologists perform a maximum of 250 autopsies annually. Iowa’s state pathologists exceeded that recommendation in 2015 and 2016. 

Though the office can operate without accreditation, the designation ensures it meets specific standards. Accreditation also provides credibility, which is especially important if it is your loved one who died under suspicious circumstances or you’re the one on trial for murder. 

Yet the medical examiner’s office is yet another victim of anti-government politicians. Its funding has decreased from $1.16 million in 2009 to $822,042 this year. This leaves the office increasingly reliant on fees paid by counties and begging lawmakers to allow for an increase in those fees. 

Such a fee increase request — from $1,400 to $1,900 per autopsy — was supported by the House Administrative Rules and Review Committee, but now the chair of that committee, Rep. Dawn Pettengill, R-Mount Auburn, said she wants to find a way to eliminate the need for the increase before it goes into effect next year. 

"There is a need for them to get additional money. But I really didn't want it to come from property taxpayers," she said. "I would prefer it be general fund dollars." 

No kidding. If lawmakers had provided those general fund dollars in the first place, the medical examiner wouldn't need to increase fees paid by counties for autopsies. And there are not extra general fund dollars, thanks to lawmakers who have refused to generate state revenue and forfeit it by providing excessive tax breaks to large corporations.  

This funding government thing isn’t rocket science. When you refuse to collect enough money to pay for basic services, those basic services are not provided. The state medical examiner’s office, as well as numerous other government entities, are already operating at maximum efficiency. 

So rather than more tired rhetoric about the need for “smaller” government, Iowa lawmakers and Gov. Kim Reynolds should finally define what they consider the right size to be. They should be specific about their ideal number of child protection workers, unemployment offices, state troopers, crime lab workers and pathologists. 

Since politicians do not volunteer such details on their own, Iowans should demand they do.