Three of Iowa’s mayors are joining more than 250 of their counterparts from across the country in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 93rd Annual Winter Meeting.
The three-day bipartisan summit opened this morning and Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart says it’s an ideal opportunity to discuss solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the nation’s cities, large and small.
“Just listening to some of the most pressing issues that are faced by cities all across America,” Hart says, “and sometimes it feels good to know that you’re not alone.”
Hart plans to attend a series of workshops on a host of topics, including the affordable housing crisis, public safety, immigration, climate, technology and cybersecurity, and infrastructure investment. He’s also hoping to learn about more innovative ways to help established small businesses — as well as start-ups — to grow and thrive.
“We know that small businesses are the backbones of our community,” he says, “and so hearing what other mayors are doing, hearing what other leading thinkers are doing to help small businesses really helps us to craft what we want to do within our local community.”
As the 2025 session of the Iowa legislature opened this week, Republican lawmakers said setting new limits on property taxes is their top priority. While that may sound attractive to many Iowans, Hart says it’s also a cause for some concern.
“Seventy to 80-percent of our city budget that our property taxes go to are for public safety,” Hart says, “and so any changes, any losses in revenues have an overall impact to our ability to be able to provide safe communities, thriving communities as well.”
A new administration will take over the White House next week and there’s much discussion about tariffs and the impact on trade. President-elect Trump has singled out Quad Cities-based ag equipment giant John Deere, saying he’ll impose a 200-percent tariff on any Deere imports from Mexico. Deere is Waterloo’s largest employer and Mayor Hart says he’ll be watching developments carefully, both at the federal level and with tax changes on the state level.
“I am hoping that’s going to increase business opportunities, that’s going to bring more jobs,” he says, “and as mayor, regardless of what side of the aisle I sit on, I want to see that happen for our community, but on the state level, we really need to continue to balance out those cuts based upon the services that they’ll impact.”
Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh and Des Moines Mayor Connie Boesen are also attending the conference, which concludes on Sunday.