Iowa law requires assessed value to be at fair and reasonable market value. In just about every situation, it is not.
Its not Iowa. The Assessor taxes property for their budgets, as well as the Cities, Counties, School, Hospital, Extension are the majority of property taxes. The assessment is the value of your property. The state sets the percentage of your propety value that gets taxed. Right now I belive it to be about 55% for residential property. (comercial apartment complexes had their valuations lowered by the legislature about 5 years ago to match residential at 55%, it used to be 90% of the value whos paying off the legislature?) Why are so many apartment complexes going up? Those previously mentioned taxing districts/entities are the ones keeping your money, not the state. I was heavily involved in this taxing process until recently retiring. The Iowa legislature is dealing with huge budget surpluses and and those dollars dont come from property taxes. The legislature wants to lower property taxes while sitting on surpluses because it is a popular topic and gets them reelected. Get new people in local government if you want reasonable property taxes.
School District Proposed Change +16.52%, County +12.46%, City +48.41%....Even though my "assessment " went down 4.2% (After going up last year by 36%) By my calculation, I will be paying 1800 more in taxes on property that "decreased" in value. Nearly triple what it was just 5 years ago. I would love to get a double digit increase in my pay sometime.
I find that hard to believe when House File 718 in 2023 put limitations on how much your property tax could increase. Also, budgets are due until April 30, so most jurisdictions haven't even set their rates yet.
Ahh yeah, the property tax statement mailer. A genius idea by the legislator that is completely misleading to the lay person. Do your research.
Not always true. I contested in Ankeny several years ago. The board agreed and knocked it down 6.5% to what I recommended based on area sales. Two years later, the assessment dropped another fraction.
Most not officially. They are required to have a hearing setting the levy rates and they dont have to set the rates at the same meeting. So they can come back when most everyone is gone and pass what they want (with proper public notice). These are the rollbacks for 25-26 set by the state below. So if you own a $100,000.00 assessed value home you will pay taxes on $47,431.00 dollars of the value. see the chart at the bottom.
| Category | Rollback |
|---|---|
| 1. Agricultural (excluding agricultural dwellings) | 73.8575% |
| 2. Residential (Rural and urban - including agricultural dwellings) | 47.4316% |
| 3. Commercial Realty to the value of each property unit of outside and within incorporated cities and towns: A. 47.4316% to the value of each property unit that exceeds zero dollars ($0), but does not exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). B. 90.0000% to the value of each property unit that exceeds on hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). | Tier 1: 47.4316% Tier 2: 90.0000% |
| 4. Industrial (excluding machinery and equipment assessed as real property pursuant to Section 427A.1(7) of the Iowa Code) A. 47.4316% to the value of each property unit that exceeds zero dollars ($0), but does not exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). B. 90.0000% to the value of each property unit that exceeds on hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). | Tier 1: 47.4316% Tier 2: 90.0000% |
| 5. Railroad Property A. 47.4316% to the value of each property unit that exceeds zero dollars ($0), but does not exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). B. 90.0000% to the value of each property unit that exceeds on hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). | Tier 1: 47.4316% Tier 2: 90.0000% |
| 6. Utility Property | 100% |
Correct. However, HF718 also capped the amount of property tax growth cities can capture at 3%. So even if the assessed property value of a city grew by 7%, the city can only collect 3% of that growth through taxes.
No. Assessed value, by law, should be at market value. The cities are limited to how much of the assessed value growth they can capture.
