To the editor:

I’m Kurtis Bower, the current mayor of Roland, Iowa, and a Story County resident. You might be thinking, “What’s his interest in our issues if he doesn’t live here?” I campaigned to be a state representative in the Iowa House of Representatives, and during the campaign process, I got to know so many of you and I care about all of you. I find it amazing that many of you take an interest in your local governments and the processes that they undertake. I can tell you that as a sitting mayor of a small town, whenever you discuss money, it is often an unpleasant, but necessary discussion that must take place.

The point of the hearing today was to determine if the petitioners had sufficiently met their burden of proving that the Hospital Board of Trustees did not meet their duty and obligation under the law to levy only those taxes that were reasonably necessary. Let’s examine the arguments.

The petitioners had laid out an objective argument where they presented numbers, and that they showed that reasonable projections showed that the hospital’s revenue would have remained a net-positive gain without any tax levy revenue being applied. It was pretty straightforward in that regard. There was a level of empathy that was conveyed and an understanding of the apprehensions that existed surrounding the potential cutting of revenue to the hospital.

The respondents made some broadly based statements that were meant to sway the emotions of the panel and the public. Statements about “industry and statutory norms” were made, while trying to connect a sense of emotion and nurturing need to obscure justification that was not in any way specific in nature. Statements like, “It’s in the interest of public welfare,” were stated by Van Diest Medical Center Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), Lisa Ridge.

Here’s my first observation that I couldn’t help but make: the hospital was well represented by the number of healthcare workers in the crowd. The folks that are responsible for paying the taxes were at work earning that money. They were not that plentiful in the crowd, so the things that needed to be said were not said at this hearing.

Under Article III, Sections 38A and 39A of the Iowa Constitution, the general assembly is the only entity with the authority to grant local governments the authority by statute to levy taxes. Article VII, Section 7 of the Iowa Constitution states, “Tax imposed distinctly stated. Every law which imposes, continues, or revives a tax, shall distinctly state the tax, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.” Those taxes are not meant to fund a savings account, they’re meant to fund a specific object.

Now, I realize that this stuff is kind of wordy and unnecessarily complicated, but please try to stick with me as I go into the budgetary process of a local government. We have line items for expenditures and line items for revenues in our budgets. A line item is a specific “object” that the tax dollars must be spent on. Not all of the hospital’s revenue is brought in by property taxes, but we heard two figures today, three percent (3%) and five and one-tenth percent (5.1%) is supplied by tax revenue. When you’re using tax dollars, you must budget your money in a public setting that is publicly open and notified by law with sufficient notice given to the public. That’s generally a minimum of twenty-four (24) hours notice. Local governments must review their budgets annually and certify them annually.

The industry’s best practice is zero-based budgeting where you justify every one of the line items over again in several budget workshops before all of your department heads and the public well in advance of that April 30th deadline. In Roland, we have Fire and EMS, Public Works, Parks, Water and Sewer, Library, and Administration. Those department heads met with us and went over every line item in their proposed budget. In those budget workshops, they’re a relatively informal process where council members are able to scrutinize or ask questions, lay out concerns, and/or gauge overall department desire and priority level of every line item. However, the public is permitted to ask questions or level concerns at this time as well. It’s so much easier to lay out those concerns during the budget workshops than during a budget hearing. However, by all accounts, I don’t see that level of involvement or transparency from the hospital. I’m not saying that anyone has broken the law, but they’re not being fully transparent.

With little to no deliberation that has visibly taken place in the public’s view, the Board of Trustees for Van Diest Medical Center should hear the public and acknowledge that the public was not included. Their objections were heard at the budget hearing that was intended to set the budget. As stewards of taxpayer dollars, that’s unacceptable and it does not prioritize public input. There are ways to include the public in these processes, and budget workshops are excellent for this. It gives the hospital the opportunity to answer justification questions, but also it enables the Board of Trustees the opportunity to ask for solutions that could actually be beneficial to the institution.

My criticism of the executive administration during this process is, use detailed, objective, specific data and information, not generalized information that is accompanied by opinions. The public is entitled to facts. Delete the emotional components from these topics and discussion. Everyone knows that the objective of the hospital is to save lives and to provide top notch healthcare. However, how many people are going to Clarion, Ames, Waterloo, Mason City, or Des Moines that choose not to go to the hospital there in Webster City? The purported shortfalls in revenue could be a decline in patient population and a targeted marketing campaign may very well help with that. But again, based on the limited information, the choice of the information given, it does not promote transparency, but rather breeds distrust.

From one public official to others: open the books and have a brutally honest discussion long before it gets here.

Kurtis Bower

Roland