Economic development is everyone's business
Without some new significant economic development in our county and towns, our local taxes will continue to get higher each year.
That’s true because of the ever-increasing costs of doing business each year - providing the essential services we need and expect such as police, fire, emergency, street maintenance and utility services, just to name a few.
You can’t keep increasing your expenses if your income stays the same, or decreases.
Jackson County – just to continue as the same kind of community it is now – must continue to grow a little each year.
More taxpayers paying local taxes means the overall tax burden can be spread out more fairly.
Holton, the county-seat town and the biggest town in the county, has the most to lose if economic development efforts are not made a priority.
Holton also has the most to gain because it is the county seat town and the biggest town in the county.
The success and effectiveness of previous economic development efforts in the county should be reviewed.
What Jackson County needs is a group of community leaders to voluntarily step forward - without pay - to work on behalf of the common good and serve as good-will community ambassadors.
Maybe the Jackson County Commission and Holton City Commission could jointly identify such a volunteer group of solid, proven, community leaders who love the community and task them with the lead role for local economic development planning and recruitment.
Such action by our county and city leaders is not neccessary, however.
Local leaders could choose to form a group and work on economic development voluntarily on their own.
There really is no higher calling for a citizen than to work to make your community a better place.