The Iowa Senate has added one quarter of a million dollars to their justice system budget to help the Iowa Highway Patrol cover rising fuel costs. Tom Hancock, a Democrat from Epworth, says the record gas prices are making a big impact on the troopers.
Hancock says the public safety commissioner estimates that if gas goes to $3.75 cents a gallon, it will have a one-point-four-million dollar impact on their budget. Hancock says the additional money will cover the troopers, but not necessarily the whole public safety division.
Hancock says the money doesn’t go far enough in some aspects as other agencies also have increased costs, but he says the troopers are out patrolling the state roadways and need to pay for the fuel. The Senate also added new money to the budget for one new trooper, and for trooper overtime, which they say was underfunded last year.