Jasper Mayor highlights city’s financial health and department achievements
Mayor Dean Vonderheide presented an overall optimistic view of Jasper’s current state during his annual address to the city council, emphasizing the city’s role as a regional hub and its focus on infrastructure improvements.
You can see the presentation document with all the numbers and highlights below.
“We’re a hub of activity, of employment, health care, entertainment,” Vonderheide said. “We as a city exist not just because of the boundaries that exist around the city of Jasper, but because of all of those other communities that are a part of us.”
He began his address with Clerk-Treasurer Kiersten Knies reporting on the city’s financial health. Knies said the general fund expenses for 2024 totaled just over $12 million, with park fund expenses at $4.8 million. She reported the city used about $500,000 of America Rescue Plan Act funds and $2.7 million of EDIT funds to help supplement the city’s budget.
“We did not spend any money from our Rainy Day Fund,” Knies said, saying it had a balance of $2.3 million.
For 2025, she projected an unencumbered general fund balance of $5.6 million for 2025, with a Park and Recreation fund balance of $2.3 million and an EDIT balance of $6.2 million.
Of the EDIT funds, she stated they do anticipate appropriating $2.5 million towards the Regional Wellness Center in 2025.
Knies also reported that the city had collected $519,000 through the Food and Beverage Tax–surpassing the projected $495,000 in collections.
The mayor reported the city’s employment numbers showed a slight decrease from the previous year, with 320 employees compared to 350 in 2023. Vonderheide attributed this mainly to a reduction in seasonal park employees, as the pool did not operate last summer.
“When you look at 180 something employees and think about that your turnover rate is a single digit, that’s unheard of in today’s world,” Vonderheide said.
The planning department reported 46 new residential units permitted in the past year, though Vonderheide acknowledged this falls short of the county’s needs. “We have to average well over 100 a year really is what our need is as a county,” he said, noting that with the annexation and proposed housing developments, they could see those numbers increasing.
Vonderheide highlighted several department achievements:
The park and recreation department opened the Whitey Schroeder Practice Facility in April, which exceeded revenue expectations. Buehler Park received upgrades, including a new restroom facility, walking track, and pickleball courts. Mayor Vonderheide pointed out the increased revenue at the Whitey Schroeder facility brought in almost a million dollars in golfing-related revenue.
The Parklands was also recognized for the controlled burn that will help the Indiana wildflowers thrive in the park.
The fire department responded to 506 calls, with many being lift assists and EMS calls. A heat map was included in the mayor presentation (you can see it below) that indicated where the majority of assist calls were coming from. He also noted the department acquired new Lucas devices for automatic chest compressions, resulting in five lives saved.
The police department hired a new chief, Chad Dick, and three new officers. The department had 5,779 arrests and 19,465 calls for service.
The utilities department maintained competitive rates and reported a remarkably low bad debt write-off of 0.00101%. The wastewater plant treated 877 million gallons, while the water plant treated 676 million gallons.
The mayor added that plans are being developed to add a northside wastewater treatment plant as part of the creation of a Regional Sewer District.
The street department maintained 116 miles of roads and collected 3,200 tons of trash and rubbish. They also picked up 94 stray dogs throughout the year.
Mayor Vonderheide pointed out that the city has been relying heavily on Community Crossings grants to fund road improvements and repairs in the city. In the future though, the city will have to “implement the excise tax on vehicles, or you don’t qualify for the one-to-one match,” he said. “We certainly don’t want to lose this Community Crossing grant funding because we are getting twice as much road done than we did in the past.”
Vonderheide also mentioned this year is the Jasper Art Department’s 50th anniversary. He emphasized that the department had concentrated on bringing arts to the area schools and increasing classes at the art center.
“There were over 7,000 visitors to galleries over the past year,” he said. “I that’s going to continue to increase.”
The city just created a new app, Jasper INSight, to keep residents informed of different events and issues in the city. It can be downloaded from the app stores.
The mayor concluded by emphasizing the city’s ability to address challenges. “Together we can make things happen. I think that’s what Jasper’s known for is making things happen, getting things done,” he said.
The presentation provided a comprehensive overview of Jasper’s operations and achievements, highlighting the city’s financial stability and ongoing efforts to improve infrastructure and services for its residents.
