Budget discussions are still ongoing in the Iowa Legislature, with FY26 being implemented on July 1st. The initial budget proposal from Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds called for approximately $700 million in reserve funds being used for this year’s budget to make up for a revenue shortfall. State Senator Julian Garrett tells KNIA News he is cautious about drawing from reserves, but is in favor of the overall budget proposal from the Senate this year.

“Obviously we can’t keep doing that, but we have really significant reserves in the billions of dollars because we have been very cautious the last several years and run surpluses. So that will tide us over here, but we all understand you can’t do that for very long you’ve got to get your revenues back up.”

Garrett also said he expects revenue to grow after the legislature passed a tax cut and reformed income tax to a flat rate. Hear more on an upcoming Let’s Talk Indianola program.