Governor Kim Reynolds’ effort to make government more efficient took another major step forward with the release of the final report from the Iowa Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Task Force. Announced during her 2025 Condition of the State Address, the Task Force was charged with finding new ways to streamline government, modernize operations, and ultimately reduce Iowa’s property tax burden.
After 180 days of work, the Task Force delivered a sweeping set of recommendations centered on efficiency, consolidation, and technology improvements. The goal: to help both state and local governments do more with less—while keeping taxpayers at the center of every decision.
Governor Reynolds’ own realignment of state government served as a model for the Task Force’s work. “I have always believed that it is important that we never settle, that we continue to look for ways to be more effective, efficient and accountable to the taxpayers of Iowa,” she said.
Task Force Chair Emily Schmitt echoed that vision: “Creating a government ecosystem that reduces administration and increases collaboration allows every Iowan a better-serviced state and outcomes that can evolve and adapt. These factors not only contribute to effective government, but also overall economic development, community vibrancy and business growth.”
The Task Force divided its work into three focus areas—Workforce Improvement, Leveraging Technology, and Return on Taxpayer Investment. Each group examined opportunities to consolidate duplicative services, improve accountability, and deliver measurable results.
Reforming Education: Rewarding Results and Refocusing Resources
Among the most ambitious proposals from the Task Force are those tied to the Return on Taxpayer Investment working group—especially ideas that reimagine how Iowa funds K–12 education.
The Task Force recommends establishing a merit-based compensation framework for teachers and administrators. The goal is to financially reward high-performing educators and attract top talent to high-need schools, such as those in rural or low-income areas. The plan would include professional development incentives, performance bonuses, and differentiated pay for hard-to-staff positions.
In addition, the Task Force proposes creating an outcome-based funding and accountability framework for K–12 schools that would:
Together, these reforms aim to connect taxpayer investment directly to student achievement and ensure that public dollars produce tangible results for Iowa students and families.
Shared Services and Modernization
To stretch education dollars further, the Task Force urges school districts to expand shared-service models that pool administrative resources. Smaller districts—particularly those under 500 students—could be encouraged or required to share human resources, IT, transportation, and procurement functions through regional collaboratives.
Modernizing school transportation through AI-based routing and shared bus fleets is another example of using technology to reduce costs while improving service.
The Task Force’s education proposals combine accountability and efficiency with a renewed focus on outcomes. As policymakers debate next steps, they must ensure that reforms truly redirect dollars toward instruction rather than bureaucracy.
Modernizing Local Government: Consolidation and Collaboration
Beyond education, the DOGE Task Force’s final report outlines a bold roadmap for reshaping how local governments operate. These recommendations are designed to reduce duplication, modernize services, and ultimately deliver property tax relief through innovation and efficiency.
Governor Reynolds and the legislature have already shown that reforming government from within can produce meaningful savings. The Task Force’s charge was to extend that same philosophy to the local level—where much of Iowa’s property tax burden originates.
One of the Task Force’s flagship ideas is a state-supported “Local Government Efficiency Grant Program.”
The program would provide grants to cities, counties, or other local entities that agree to share services, regionalize operations, or consolidate administrative functions. Funds could cover the upfront costs of feasibility studies, technology integration, and implementation planning.
Beyond funding, the program would offer technical assistance and a statewide clearinghouse of best practices. This “knowledge exchange” would help local leaders learn from one another’s successes and overcome common barriers to reform.
The Task Force also recommends allowing Iowa’s largest municipalities to form “independent cities.” Under this proposal, cities with populations over 50,000 could—if approved by local voters—assume all county responsibilities and funding within their boundaries, with the exception of judicial functions and elections. These independent cities would effectively merge city and county governments into a single entity, eliminating overlapping layers of administration and improving accountability under one elected authority.
Neighboring jurisdictions could choose to join an independent city’s governance structure if they saw regional benefits.
Although the idea of consolidating Iowa’s 99 counties did not make the final report, the Task Force does recommend shifting some state services from county-based delivery to a state-managed regional model. This would allow the state to oversee programs such as public safety dispatch, human services, and agricultural extension through 8–10 standardized regions. Centralized management could reduce duplication, improve consistency, and relieve property taxpayers of costs tied to services that are more properly state functions.
To further improve efficiency, the Task Force proposes merging county treasurer and recorder offices into one combined office. This would streamline routine transactions—vehicle registration, property transfers, licensing—by reducing overlapping responsibilities and technology systems.
Strengthening the Workforce: Benchmarking Public Compensation
The Task Force, Governor Reynolds, and legislative leaders have made clear that any reform to IPERS is off the table. Nevertheless, they agree that a thorough review of public-sector benefits and compensation is essential—not only to protect taxpayers but also to ensure that public employment remains competitive.
To that end, the Task Force recommends commissioning a private-sector style compensation and benefits study that would:
Importantly, the study could explore offering future hires an optional defined-contribution retirement plan, providing flexibility for new employees while protecting the benefits of current ones. Participation in any new plan would be entirely voluntary.
By grounding compensation decisions in data, Iowa can balance fiscal responsibility with the need to recruit and retain skilled professionals to deliver essential public services.
Reform with Real Limits
The DOGE Task Force deserves credit for confronting some of the hardest questions about government reform. Its ideas—ranging from shared services and education outcomes to compensation benchmarking—reflect serious consideration of how to make government more effective and efficient.
Still, policymakers should proceed carefully. Grant programs, tax credits, or new incentives often grow into bureaucracies of their own, offsetting the very savings they were designed to achieve. Similarly, consolidation and shared services can improve outcomes—but they can also evolve into larger, more distant administrative structures if not carefully managed.
Finally, while efficiency and modernization are vital, true property tax relief will remain elusive without disciplined control of spending. Governor Reynolds’ state-level reforms have shown that streamlined operations can strengthen fiscal health, but sustainable taxpayer relief depends on consistent spending restraint at every level of government.
The complete Final Report is available here: Iowa Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Task Force, Final Report, October 2025, governor.iowa.gov/media/484/download
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