[updated] (Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic breezed through part of their agenda Wednesday night, until City Administrator John Lund’s report. Lund was of the opinion, following a legislative briefing, that “Rural Iowa is really, kind of like under siege right now.”

He said there are no concrete proposals that he’s aware of, but…

He say working on the valuations with the Business Property Tax  Credits, “We saw a colossal loss in our taxable valuation.”

Lund said since he became City Administrator, Atlantic has only raised the levy once.

The only reason the City went down from the 27-cents was because the 2021 assessments “Were massive, and the City saw a lot of property taxes from that. It was really difficult to justify keeping that capped. So we lowered that down to five-cents.” He was planning on having it phased back in over the years, but at this point, he said, “We’re gonna need those resources sooner than we think, [because] between the inflation and the rhetoric at the Statehouse” and a possible levy freeze, rural communities will have to find ways to tighten their fiscal belts.

Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett said a property tax reduction may sound good to anyone who owns property…

She encouraged other Mayors from around southwest Iowa to go to the Iowa State House and make sure the legislators are comparing “apples to apples,” when it comes to cutting property taxes, especially when there is such a large population on the eastern side of the State, and a lesser, more rural population on the western side of the State.

In other business, the two candidates for the Parks and Rec Director are slated to be interviewed in-person. One of the candidates – John Wyatt Adderton, from Savannah, Georgia, will be here on Friday. He’s a Park Ranger, and his spouse is an airline pilot. Michelle Spunaugle – the other candidate – also has experience as a Park Ranger. She lives in Villisca and will be interviewed separately,