Decorah City Council Approves $100,000 for Downtown Development Grants in FY26

DECORAH -- Decorah City Council voted Monday to allocate $100,000 from sustainability funds for the Downtown Economic Development Grant program in Fiscal Year 2026. The decision follows the program's strong and generally well-received first-year performance, which awarded $137,000 of an initial $150,000 allocation to 12 downtown revitalization projects. "Half of which were sustainability funds," City Manager Travis Goedken explained, "the other half were Hotel/Motel [funds]." Launched in FY25, the grant program supports downtown business improvements such as exterior renovations, upper-story residential conversions, and other upgrades. It requires a 3:1 private match, encouraging significant private investment in the downtown area. According to Goedken, the program itself stipulates that funding "shall be established annually by the council", and because the city's budget has been adopted and certified to the state, the council may proceed with allocation of the funds. The budget for FY26 includes $53,700 in Hotel/Motel revenues for "council contingency" and over $500,000 in sustainability funds after expenses. Goedken and City Staff suggested that the Council allocate less funds to the program this year due to the amount of ongoing projects going on right now that are reliant on fundraising efforts, several of which are currently over budget. They also advocated for the funds to come solely from sustainability funds. Council Member Emily Neal asked Goedken whether the funds from this program could be awarded to individual building owners, rather than strictly business owners. "There was the complicated factor where we realized that these grant funds can only go to businesses and they can't go to an individual who owns a building." Goedken clarified, "That was a separate program, not the city's program." Neal responded, "I just want to be very clear. So we can award them to individuals who own downtown buildings who are going to make significant improvements to their buildings for their outside facades?" "Outside facade, upper story residential creation or restoration," Goedken explained. "And they can be a private individual?" Neal asked. "Correct," Goedken concluded. Council Member Steve Zittergruen backed the investment but cautioned a more conservative approach, pointing to "real physical changes" that were happening in Decorah's "most prominent public area". "I think this program continues to be a great idea for all the same reasons that it was last year. This is our most economically productive sector of town. It subsidizes a lot of the city's other businesses and services…I think it's good that we pivoted last year to incentivizing and rewarding the people who want to make investments in our downtown," he said, "I'd like to keep that momentum going, but at the same time, I totally agree that the sort of financial uncertainty facing us makes it make sense to maybe take our foot off the gas a bit." Zittergruen then suggested a motion of $75,000 solely from sustainability funds. Neal indicated that she was open to either $75,000 or $100,000. "If we made it an even $100,000, that's 10 projects—just two fewer than last year, even if we don't spend it all," Neal noted. After further discussion, Zittergruen amended his motion to continue the program with a note for next fiscal year of $100,000 of sustainability funds, the motion was seconded by Neal. The motion was carried with unanimous support from the rest of the council.