On Tuesday State Representative Bruce Hunter for House District 62 made a proposal to reduce Iowa’s counties from 99 to 50 by 2017.

Representative Hunter said that with Iowa’s size, there’s no reason why there should be 99 counties.  A committee discussed the proposal at the Capitol on Tuesday.

State Representative Chip Baltimore says he’s on the fence about the idea.  He believes that politically, it would be a hard thing to accomplish.  However, he applause Hunter’s efforts because the state has been discussing for a long time how to generate property tax revenue but there’s been no viable option.  If Iowa reduces the number of counties, you are essentially reducing the number of bureaucracy costs which would save the state money.

Greene County Supervisor Chair John Muir says his first thoughts about Iowa changing to 50 counties is if the counties keep the services that are provided currently and as efficiently as they are, then there might be a way that it could possibly work.  However, if the services that other counties provide are delayed or cut down that would hinder a proposal like Hunter’s.  Muir isn’t worried about how services would be handled if Greene County and another county were to combine.

“Looking down the road, to the Courthouse and in our departments, hoping that if it ever came about that we’d be in a position to stay our ground and provide another county the services we provide our county right now; so no, I’m not concerned with how we would fit into something like that.”

Muir believes there could be some other positives, such as new businesses but he comments that if a plan like this is to be put in place, then there must be efficiency otherwise it doesn’t make sense to reduce the number of counties.  However, right now Muir says that the state and its counties aren’t ready to make that move.