The City of Carroll is in the midst of budget preparations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027, and local organizations are beginning to submit their funding requests. Monday’s meeting featured local economic development staff from the Carroll Chamber of Commerce and Carroll County Growth Partnership (CCGP). CCGP Executive Director Kimberly Tiefenthaler, who has announced her retirement, effective at the beginning of April, presented her final funding request to the city council. Rather than look at just the last year, Tiefenthaler instead reviewed her four-year tenure with CCGP. She took over the county’s economic development at a difficult time, following the closure of several downtown Carroll businesses. Tiefenthaler says it was a wake-up call for many in the community.
More than half of the county’s residents and jobs are in Carroll, so much of CCGP’s attention is on Carroll. However, Tiefenthaler stresses that CCGP was created to operate countywide, and she says they leaned on community leaders in smaller communities while addressing challenges in the region’s economic center. CCGP brought in the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s (IEDA) Downtown Resource Center to take a close look. They found Carroll was positioned well compared to many similarly sized cities, but there was still room for improvement.
She cites the award of a $100,000 IEDA Emergency Catalyst Grant to facilitate the conversion of the former JCPenney building to a dance studio and tens of thousands of dollars in smaller grants to downtown businesses for façade improvements. Tiefenthaler says the city’s continued support of CCGP has been critical for the central business district and beyond.
According to Tiefenthaler, the city has invested $380,000 into downtown, leveraging $1.1 million in private investment. That is nearly a 3:1 return. She adds Carroll County has seen taxable sales increase year after year recently, which suggests CCGP’s efforts, while not always obvious, are having a positive impact. Tiefenthaler says the momentum has shifted, and now is not the time to lay off the gas.
About a third of CCGP’s funding comes from the City of Carroll. Another third comes from Carroll County, and the remaining third is sourced through private investment. The council did not make any decisions on the request at Monday’s meeting, as that will be made further along in the budgeting process.
