Clear Lake’s mayor discusses legislative proposal for capping budget growth

CLEAR LAKE — Cities and towns across north-central Iowa have started the process of putting together their Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which begins on July 1st. Meanwhile legislators at the statehouse have been discussing setting new limits on city and county budget growth with a 2% hard cap in the future.

Clear Lake’s mayor Nelson Crabb says if such a law passes the legislature, he’s more concerned about the impact it would have on smaller communities around the area than it might have on Clear Lake.  “We will be ok with that, but I worry about these smaller towns. I think that’s a big issue for these smaller towns. Some of them are required to have their wastewater, have that taken care of. Some of them haven’t even gotten to that point where they have that question all solved.”

Crabb says legislators need to be having discussions with communities in their districts about what the impact of such a cap would have. “Your communities have to be able to grow and to be able to serve those people who live in their communities, and I think in some cases, the legislators need to go around and talk to these smaller communities and how is that going to affect you.”

Republicans have said setting new limits on property taxes is their top priority this session, and it was one of the top concerns heard during the 2024 campaign.

Crabb made this comments on the “Ask the Mayor” podcast — click here to listen