Lee Rood| Des Moines Register
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In October last year, an inmate at the state’s maximum security penitentiary in Fort Madison carried out an attack on a guard,reportedly planned with three other prisoners.
The guard suffered numerous punches and kicks to the head. Cocaine and a shank were discovered in a subsequent search of the inmate’s belongings.
The same week, an inmateat the medium security prison in Clarinda punched a guard, causing bruising, cuts and a broken nose.
At the state’s mental health institute in Independence, a violentpatient attacked a nurse, whosufferedneurological damage, memory loss and permanent injuries before 12 others could restrain him.
While census figuresshowthat most other states have kept employment levels relatively flat, Iowa’s workforce in state government is muchleaner than it once was: Nearly 3,000jobs in the executive branch have been eliminated through layoffs, early retirements,outsourcing and voluntary departures since 2011, a drop of about 18 percent, an analysis of state data shows.
The ongoing staff reductions through most of that period reflect the "smaller, smarter government" philosophy of then-Gov. Terry Branstad, who took office in January 2011 and resigned in May 2017 to become U.S. ambassador to China.
In 2017, a year when Iowasaw $118 million in state budget cuts, the Register reported nearly 2,100 full-time state government jobs had been eliminated since 2011. In this latest examination of state employment by the Reader's Watchdog, figures show losses have continued under Gov. Kim Reynolds,down about 860 more positions through the fiscal yearending June 30, 2018.
State departmentheads working under Reynolds have downplayed those cuts, saying they were needed in leaneconomic times. But advocates for state employees contend the diminished workforce has led towidespread repercussions, including more violence and injuries in prisons and institutions.
“A lot of assaults in prison are happening because we don’t have enough people watching out,” said Danny Homan, who heads Iowa’s largest employee union. “The same thing is happening on the wards of our mental health institutes. State government has been cut to the bone.”
Some of the deepest cuts in the past eight years have been made in the overcrowded prison system — with almost 400 corrections positions eliminated across eight facilities, down from 2,860 jobs in 2011. This month, those prisons were 23 percent over their state-designatedcapacity. With more prisoners than cells, some inmates are housed in communal areas and converted spaces.
But corrections officials say their numbers show serious assaults in prisons were down to eight last fiscal year, from a high of 21in 2015.
Fewer troopers patrol Iowa'shighways
TheDepartment of Public Safety had 955 jobs in 2011, thenlost132 during the8-year span, a time whenviolent crime and meth use rose again in rural Iowa.The reduction included more than 100 sworn officers.
In 2017, Iowa State Patrol figures suggested motorist assists, drunken driving arrests and crash investigations were down substantially, according toan article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
But Public Safety Commissioner Stephen Bayens said cuts have had little effect on his department's effectiveness or on crime itself.
“It is impossible to gauge any effect this may have had on crime rates throughout the state,” Bayens said. “Our commitment to assisting local law enforcement, especially in rural Iowa, has been steadfast regardless of economic ups and downs.”
Last year, Bayens noted, Iowa saw fewer car fatalities than any year since 1944, and troopers issued farmore citations to those speeding at least 25 miles over the speed limit.
Still, his department succeeded in persuading the Iowa Legislature this year to approve$1.7 million more for the Iowa State Patrol.
And it is hiring again: Over the last seven months, 38 new troopers have been added to the department's ranks, bringing the current number to 291.
Fewer field workers oversee child safety
By sheer numbers, the deepest staff reductions from 2011 to 2018 happened within Iowa’s Department of Human Services, which lost 1,058 workers from its 4,998 in 2011. That included the elimination of at least 558 field operations workers, figures from the state show, a category that comprises social workers and income maintenance employees.
More cuts happened last year — even after child deathsreached a high-water mark of 19 in 2017 and child abuse reports spiked to their highest point in a generation.
“Those are the people out checking on kids who are being adopted and in foster homes,” Homan said. “It’s no wonder kids are being locked in basem*nts and cages and starving to death.”
DHS spokesmanMatt Highland said the department has "not seen a significant impact regarding visits with families and child welfare outcomes" as a result of cutting the agency's field staff.
But caseloads for social workers and income-maintenance workers are at a highacross the state. Child-protection investigators have 17.6 cases apiece this year—five more than they had in 2011.
The state in 2017hired an Alabama-based consultant, Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group, toreview Iowa's child-welfare system after two high-profile abuse deaths. The review foundhigh turnover, low morale and high caseloads for social workers, particularly in Polk and Linn counties.
The department asked for — and received — permission this year to hire 53 additional social workers to reduce caseloads in the state's 2020 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Emergency management sees big drop, but floodstriggerhiring
The reductions Watchdog examined excluded the state universities and other regent institutions, community-based correctionsand the legislative and judicial branches of government. Some of those also experienced deep cuts from 2011 to 2018, such as Iowa’s court system, which lost 132 people in that span.
Other deep cuts were made to the departments of transportation and workforce development. The state’s Department of Administrative Services, which helps manage all state agencies and employees, was reduced by 45 percent, or 162 workers. But 117 of those workers were moved in 2014into theOffice of the Chief Information Officer, created that year by the Legislature to manage the state's information technology.
Seventy-eight positions were eliminated through last year at Iowa’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department, a 59 percent drop, the biggestforany of the large executive branch agencies.
Staffing had ramped up to coordinate recovery and mitigation after the historic statewide flooding of 2008, then declined as needs eased.
“Most of the permanent reductions were disaster-related,” said the department’s chief of staff, John Benson.
But that department, funded with millions in new federal disaster relief, has been hiring once again because of this year’s widespread flooding, Benson said.
“The one good benefit we’ve got is that a lot of the staff has been around since the flooding of 2008, so we’re far more efficient,” Benson said.
Across departments, some of the reductions through the years stemmed from decisions to close state facilities. Closures included36 unemployment offices,two mental health facilities,theIowa juvenile home in Toledo,seven DOT maintenance garages andtwo driver's license stations.
Many other jobs have been privatized: Last year, Iowa’s Alcoholic Beverages Division handed over warehousing and distribution of alcohol to the Ruan Companies.
Three agencies — the Iowa Lottery Authority, the Public Information Board and the Parole Board — were unaffected by reductions in state agency staff, the numbers provided by the state show. Fifty-four of 70 agencies and divisions were cut.
And a few grew, includingthe Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders in Cherokee; the State Training School for boys 12 to 18 at Eldora; the women’s prison in Mitchellville; the insurance and banking division; and the governor's staff.
Individual tax burden ticks upin same span
Despite years of job cuts, sales and income taxes as a percentage of income haveincreased slightlyin the same eight-year span.
Republican lawmakers in the 2018 legislative session sought to lessen the income tax burden by approving a tax cut bill projected to reduce state revenues by a total of $2.1 billion over six fiscal years, or about 5 percent of potential state revenue.
The budgetapproved this springincludes roughly $7.6 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Most of the state budget iseaten up by the state’s two most costly responsibilities: health care and education.
Lawmakers approved $3.3 billion in K-12 school aid for next year, up $93.5 million from estimated 2019 spending. They budgeted $1.9 billion for the Department of Human Services, where the largest spending item is the state's Medicaid program, which provides health insurance for poor and disabled Iowans. That is $34.9 million less than estimated 2019 spending, after lawmakers approved an additional $150 million to cover this year's expenses.
