(Radio Iowa)- The Iowa House has approved a bill to prevent the statewide 133 million dollar increase in residential property taxes that legislators say was the unintended consequence of a 2021 law. The fix cleared the Senate February 1st and it passed the House yesterday (Wednesday). Representative John Forbes of Urbandale is among the Democrats who say it’s unfair to city and county officials who’ve already built slightly bigger budget plans.

“When you look at the cities budgeting for about 50% for public safety, that’s probably where most of the cuts are going to come from,” Forbes says. “In my city alone, we’re looking at close to a million dollar budget cut.” The bill gives cities and counties until April 30th to complete their spending plans for the budgeting year that begins July 1st.

Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton says that gives cities and counties an additional 30 days to redo budgets based on the new information about how much property taxes will be paid. “There will not be one dime cut from public safety due to this piece of legislation and if someone does choose to do that, that’s a local decision, that’s a poor decision and it’s one that I don’t think is actually going to happen,” Kaufmann said. “…This is not a cut. This is not a receipt of tax dollars into a checking account that we’re then going to be taking it.”

The glitch that’s being fixed was caused when lawmakers decided apartment buildings, nursing homes and mobile home parks would no longer be taxed like commercial property — but as residential property, starting this fall.