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Indianola each year hosts the National Balloon Classic, with organizers setting off dozens of colorful hot-air balloons against a backdrop of Iowa skies and rolling corn and soybean fields. The Warren County seat also brings global competitors to a disc golf tournament — the Discmania Challenge — every summer. Other attractions: the Des Moines Metro Opera, the town square and its shops and eateries, Simpson College events. These are the types of events and organizations that help to lure visitors and tourists to Indianola, city leaders say. In December, the city council approved terminating the relationship with Catch Des Moines, explained at-large city council member Steve Richardson. The council looked at its return on investment.“We went back and looked at a lot of the things that were promoted through the year,” he said. “We had actually two promotions that came up this last year for about $53,000 investment.”Since 2012, Indianola has partnered with Catch Des Moines, the regional convention and visitors organization. The city paid a total of $479,520.69 since then to the organization to promote its amenities and events. That breaks down to about $40,000 per year. Proceeds from Indianola’s hotel-motel taxes go to Catch Des Moines. In recent years, the amount has been closer to the mid-$50,000s. Every dollar of the $5.4 million budget gets scrutinized, Richardson said. The reason: House File 718.It became law in 2023. It restricts the amount of property taxes that can be levied by cities and counties. Now, Indianola and other Central Iowa leaders say they have to make hard decisions. “We are faced with financial pressures like never before,” said former City Administrator Ben Reeves at the December council meeting. “The state’s putting a cap on us. We have to find a way to pay for the many city services we provide.”Reeves took a job in Utah and left at the end of 2024.The council’s move at that meeting means that a letter was sent to Catch Des Moines, indicating Indianola will no longer by a member as of July 1, 2026.Catch Des Moines has 14 members, like Indianola.“We are the organization that brings visitors into Des Moines, and all of Central Iowa,” said Greg Edwards, president and CEO of Catch Des Moines. The organization helped bring in $3 billion to Polk and Dallas counties in recent years.The loss of any member affects it.“We’re saddened by that result,” said Edwards. “Indianola is a great community. I’ve always considered it part of the metro area and we’ll continue to do so.” Richardson, who is on his third stint on the council and is a former lawmaker, said this all comes back to HF 718 and how to still help Indianola grow. The law is a “real factor that will hamper economic growth,” he said. “If this Legislature and the governor say what they want, what is true to what they say they want — economic growth — they need to go back and make significant changes on that.”HR 718 focused on property taxes. Hotel-motel taxes are different; they don’t go to the city’s general fund. State law specifies uses for different types of taxes. But all taxpayer dollars are connected, leaders said. Cities need to squeeze as much out of each dollar as possible.That is what the council’s December decision about tourism funding is really about, Richardson said.“Can we use it better in our community with better resources here in our community? That’s really the decision that was made,” he said.����vlog reached out to the governor’s office for comment and had not heard back.