The state of Iowa’s revenue is predicted to drop about $104 million from its original projection, analysts say. The initial budget would be set back $350 million.
After the Legislature made nearly $118 million in program and service cuts, the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency still anticipates the state will fall short.
Budget cuts will affect Planned Parenthood of the Heartland Clinics, which announced in May will close 12 of its Iowa locations; school tuition, which will raise tuition for the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa; blindness screenings, which will cause Prevent Blindness Iowa, a nonprofit that helps provide eye care, to fall short by approximately $96,000; domestic- and sexual-violence services, which were cut by about $1.7 million; and mental-health services at the UI, cut by approximately $105,000.
“Things are still growing, but not at the rate that they used to,” Jeff Robinson, a senior fiscal analyst and co-author of the report, told the Des Moines Register.
Robinson also told the Register that the deficit could either increase or decrease by the end of September.
Without the Legislature, Gov. Kim Reynolds can also borrow up to $50 million from Iowa’s reserve accounts.
Robinson, however, told the Register there is not normally $55 million worth of imbalance in the state’s revenue.
Robinson also issued a report blaming the state’s immobility on its new manufacturing tax breaks, which could cost Iowa nearly $80 million, state analysts say.
State companies could also provide revenue.
— Madeleine Neal