With 2025 firmly underway, one elected official from the city of Jefferson gives his take on the highlights of 2024 and what is coming up this year.

Mayor Craig Berry tells Raccoon Valley Radio that some of the areas that he thought were successes from 2024 were getting closer to completion of the multi-million dollar overhaul of the Wastewater Treatment Plant that is about 90 percent finished, and capturing a housing developer, Origin Homes, as the last entity from the Thriving Communities designation to build three single-family homes this spring. 

Berry appreciates the Public Works Department for their continuation of removing dead ash trees, as they have about 500 trees that have been taken down, as well as the close to 400 responses to a survey for the Rural Housing Readiness Study with Iowa State University Extension. Finally, Berry emphasizes his excitement to see additional improvements to some of the buildings in the downtown area.

“It is nice to see that people have the insight to want to do that, to come into the community and do, or spread out from where they were in the community to do that.” 

Berry voices a major concern he has going forward is the potential reduction of property taxes via the state legislature. 

“Of course that does not affect them hardly at all (the legislature) because they are an income based group. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens, what they come up with. And of course, then all of the communities are going to have to adjust and that’s not just the towns, it’s the county, it’s the school districts, it’s the hospitals, it’s the community colleges. It could be interesting.” 

Berry adds that over 75 percent of the city’s budget is based on police and fire departments, and if property taxes are reduced, it could cause some reduction in services by the city.