Stats show Newton has thrived without Maytag

May 10, 2006 was the day Gov. Tom Vilsack came to Newton on short notice.

The governor stood in front of Newton City Hall at a hastily called news conference, addressing the planned closure of Newton’s Maytag operations which had been announced earlier that day. He said Whirlpool insisted cost effectiveness was the reasoning the Whirlpool Corporation, which had acquired Maytag about six weeks earlier, gave for the elimination of nearly 1,000 jobs in Newton. The new parent company of Maytag “emphasized it was not about the workers.”

Ten years later, not only has Newton weathered the departure of Maytag, some of its economic indicator data shows growth. The population remained stable, and while the new jobs created do not pay the same wages as some of Maytag’s higher manufacturing salaries, job growth and overall stability has been maintained.

“We’ve had 14 companies relocate to Newton since Maytag left,” said Frank Liebl, director of the Newton Development Corporation. “And it’s diversity of commerce and industry, so we don’t have all of our eggs in one basket. Plus, one-third of those relocating companies have expanded since they got here, so moving to Newton helped them grow.”

Jeff Davidson, who was hired last year by Keep Iowa Beautiful to coach the Jasper County Hometown Pride team, said he was impressed with how well Newton has held together its economic and employment base.

“I’ve traveled a lot in the Rust Belt, and I’ve seen whole towns or cities closed up and empty because a mill or a plant closed,” Davidson said. “What Newton has accomplished is nothing short of incredible. I think it’s fabulous that not only did leaders find ways to bring businesses in, but the businesses that stayed here grew, and more importantly, the work force continued to dig in and slowly got things going again.”

City of Newton Director of Finance and Development Bryan Friedman recently pointed out some positive statistics about Newton’s growth. He said Jasper County’s 3.2 percent unemployment reached a low mark in October 2015. It’s been about 14 years since it had been that low. It was an average of 7.3 percent for the four quarters of 2010.

Natalie Umsted, the City of Newton’s management analyst, said there are several numbers that suggest the city has moved forward economically.

“Since 2009, the number of people employed in Jasper County has increased by more than 2,000,” she said. “In the past eight years, the City of Newton’s property tax base has increased by over $95 million. The sales tax receipts in Newton have shown almost a 10 percent increase since 2010, and the hotel-motel tax receipts have increased by 35 percent since 2011.”

Chaz Allen, who was speaking to the citizens of Newton about Maytag as their mayor from 2004 to 2012, is now the director of the Jasper County Economic Development Corporation. He said the low unemployment rate is a key indicator of growth, as are rising property valuations.

“The next thing we really need to work on is housing, and finding out our needs,” Allen said. “We need to find out if we need more, say, $125,000 houses or $225,000 houses. That’s a good question to have to deal with. Plus, we’re seeing some organic construction, not filled with or prompted by incentives.”

Allen cited a long list of companies that have opened plants in Newton, such as Walter G. Anderson and Atlas Hydraulics.

Liebl said there are two more Newton companies planning to expand their operations in 2016. He said the workforce challenges ahead are, in some cases, fairly unique to Newton, but others, such as skilled training, are nationwide areas of concern.

“It’s important to try to bring in the right types of businesses to match the local skill set, and to train workers to have the skills employers need,” Liebl said. “One thing Maytag left us with was a few great facilities, and we were blessed with incoming firms that were willing to pour some money into upgrading those facilities. We need to keep building off that momentum.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com