Iowa lawmakers ended the legislative session last week by agreeing on the state’s 2017 fiscal year budget.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn says they were able to pass their respective budget bills, but he has concerns with future budgets. He points out that the surplus has dramatically decreased over the last couple of years from $800 million to $80 million, which Behn adds that they spent more than what they took in.

“Everybody like to say that we adhered to the 99-percent spending limitation, and we did, technically. But some of the things that we can add in there, you end up (that) you can spend more than you take in and that’s what really has been going on.”

He explains that part of the reason for the surplus drop was due to the new property tax relief program.

“Instead of just saying that the cities or counties could only charge so much for (property) taxes, it effectively was a shift from property taxes to income and sales taxes when the state took over part of those payments.”

The limited surplus funds did force legislators to pass “status quo” budgets for the state departments and Behn is concerned with facing even tougher economic times for next year’s budget.