Property Tax changes from the Capitol

The Iowa House and Senate just finished their session and it included reforms on property tax. The thing is, property tax money does not go to the state, it goes to various local entities. So the legislators grandstand on this, but they never have to make the tough choices on spending. It falls on local officials, such as school boards and city councils. That kinda annoys me. They never talk about state income tax reform or cuts---stuff that would affect them.

But in any case, it got passed, and the cities will have to deal with it. Roland came out pretty well. Mostly because our main property tax base is residential housing. Not much changed there, other than limiting growth in valuation.

I think cities like Ames are going to take a big hit. Cities that have a lot of rental properties and commercial areas are really affected by this new law. Residential housing has had a rollback, where one is not assessed as much as the valuation. But rentals and commercial property paid full freight. Those properties are now going to start getting rolled back. That will shift more of the burden on residential properties. But here in Roland, for the most part, with very few commercial properties, and even fewer rental properties, home owners are paying the bill anyway, so it is not going to change what we do much here in Roland. But there are some other cities where the councils are going to have to make some tough choices.