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Iowa county officials seek changes in property tax cap

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June 14th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – The president of the Iowa State Association of Counties says county officials are hoping the state legislature makes changes in the 2023 law that capped property tax assessments. Barry Anderson, a Republican from Greenville, is a member of the Clay County Board of Supervisors.

Under the law, county officials must abide by limits on the general property tax levy as well as the levy for rural services.

Officials in about a dozen counties say their county’s share of money from the state’s Road Use Tax Fund is being reduced because of the new property tax calculations. Anderson says he hopes discussions with state lawmakers can be less adversarial, so changes can be made in 2025.

Anderson made his comments during a recent episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. The 2023 state law says if the total assessed value of property in a county grows by more than three percent, some of the excess revenue must be used to reduce that county’s main property tax levy. In 2024, lawmakers reduced the required property tax cut in counties where growth in property tax assessments was under six percent.