Hunter
01/19/23
After over a decade of rate rollbacks, the tax rate in Iowa City will remain flat this year.
The rate will hold in Fiscal Year 2024 at $15.63 per $1,000 of taxable value. In 2012, the rate was $17.84 and has been declining yearly.
The Gazette reports that under the current rate, the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will pay about $35 more in property taxes because the taxable value of homes is going up.
In a recent work session, Assistant City Manager Rachel Kilburg said the city may have to consider property tax increases, depending on the growth of the tax base. The city’s tax base shrank for the first time in ten years, which if not reversed would require either cost-cutting or raising property taxes.
Kilburg also pointed out that beginning in fiscal year 2024, all multi-residential housing will be taxed the same rate as single-family dwellings. Multi-residential properties were once taxed at 100% of their value, but the state has rolled that back over the last decade with the goal of matching the single-family residential rate of around 56%. The rate will drop nearly 8 percent in fiscal year 2024, reducing tax revenue by about $3 million.
The city has been rebounding since building permit construction value dipped below $100 million in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But staffers say the numbers are coming back, citing the Tailwinds Group project on East College Street that started in 2021 and the Gilbane Project on South Dubuque Street that began last year.