Property Tax Notice
Starting in 2024, the State of Iowa required county auditors to mail a notice to each taxpayer showing the proposed maximum property tax levy rates and revenues for the city, county, and school for Fiscal Year 2026. The notice, with a heading that reads “School, County and City Budget Year Statement to Owners and Taxpayers,” was mailed to Emmetsburg property owners last week.
The front page of the notice shows the City of Emmetsburg’s property tax decreasing from $2,115,767 to a proposed property tax of $2,062,901 and the tax levy rate decreasing from $14.83155 to $14.23475.
The back page of the notice shows an example indicating an 8.15% property tax change for the City of Emmetsburg, despite both lower proposed property tax and a lower proposed tax rate. This is misleading. The calculations for Fiscal Year 2026 included on the mailed notice assumed a 10% increase in assessed value for residential properties. However, Emmetsburg taxable valuations increased less than 2% and 100% valuations increased less than 1%. Additionally, properties are only reassessed in odd-numbered years. If the calculation used the same value for both years, the percentage change would be negative 1.75%.
City of Emmetsburg Tax Levy Rate
This upcoming fiscal year, the City expects to lower the levy rate by 59 cents, subject to a public hearing and approval by the City Council. This will lower the levy below FY19 and it is the second year in a row the levy has gone down.
How Taxes are Calculated: Levy Rates & Rollback
The City levy rate is only part of the property tax equation. Other factors include the levy rates from other taxing entities such as Palo Alto County and the Emmetsburg Community School District, the assessed value of your property, and the Rollback Percentage set by the State of Iowa each year.
The levy rate is the dollars paid per $1,000 of taxable valuation of your property. Taxable valuation is not the same as the assessed value of your home listed on the Palo Alto County Assessor’s website or the statements you receive in the mail. The “taxable value” of a property is the assessed value multiplied by the rollback rate.
The State applies a Rollback Rate to assessed value each year to manage property tax increases from year to year. Assessed values are updated by the County Assessor every other year, in odd-numbered years, based on the assessment process set by the State of Iowa. The rollback helps keep property taxes about the same even though assessed values of many homes have changed significantly in recent years.
The Residential Rollback Rate applied for Fiscal Year 2025 was 46.34%. For a home assessed at $200,000, that reduced taxable value to $92,680. The image below shows the property tax calculation for both the consolidated tax rate, meaning all taxing authorities combined, and the city-only tax rate.
Where Tax Dollars Go
Property taxes fund much more than city government, and several entities are partially funded by property tax dollars. The majority of property tax revenues go to city governments, county governments, and local public school districts. For Fiscal Year 2025, about 42 cents of each property tax dollar paid funds operations of the City of Emmetsburg. The Emmetsburg Community School District receives about 35 cents of each property tax dollar, Palo Alto County receives about 13 cents, Palo Alto County Hospital receives about 6 cents, and Iowa Lakes Community College receives about 3 cents. The remainder is split among the Assessor, Ag Extension, and the State of Iowa. The pie chart below illustrates the share of property taxes collected by each tax authority. Tax statements sent by the County Treasurer in the fall include a full list of each taxing authority, the percent and dollar amount of your property tax that goes to each.
The property tax dollars that the City receives fund operations of your local government, including many things you use in your daily life. The roads you drive on, emergency response from police and fire, and storm water systems are all paid for in large part by property tax revenue. The library, parks, and recreation activities are also at least partially funded with property tax revenue.
