City

Luzerne

$2,710 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($32.18 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$650 a yearof that goes to the city ($7.69 per $1,000)

$22,316property taxes the city levies, FY27

$53,450city budget, all funds, FY27²

Who runs it

The city council passes ordinances, adopts the budget and sets the city’s property tax.

Barbara ShieldsLuzerne City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Hannah DanielsLuzerne City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Joel ButtikoferLuzerne Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Kelly W. KendallLuzerne City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Kyla ButtikoferLuzerne City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Shane DanielsLuzerne City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Jeani BrandtLuzerne City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Joel D. ButtikoferLuzerne City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023

Officials are worked out from election results: every member whose four-year term is still running, plus appointments and titles Iowa Funnel has been told about. A resignation may not show yet.

Meetings and agendas

What the council is deciding: each agenda, the resolutions and ordinances on it, and a plain-language summary.

Iowa Funnel doesn’t read this city’s agendas yet. Every council and board posts its agenda at least 24 hours before it meets.

Property taxes

How the bill is collected · What each levy is for

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Luzerne

Homes and businesses in most of Luzerne pay a combined $32.18 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Benton County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $7.69. Estimate your bill.

Belle Plaine schools$15.8049%
City of Luzerne$7.6924%
Benton County$6.7721%
Kirkwood Community College$1.434%
Benton County Assessor$0.341%
Benton County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.16<1%

Rates over time

Per $1,000 of taxable value: the typical combined rate people in Luzerne pay, and the city government’s own piece of it.

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$31.41	$8.10
FY21	$31.77	$8.10
FY22	$31.72	$8.10
FY23	$32.16	$8.10
FY24	$32.22	$8.10
FY25	$31.78	$7.86
FY26	$32.57	$7.92
FY27	$32.18	$7.69

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$31.41	$8.10
FY21	$31.77	$8.10
FY22	$31.72	$8.10
FY23	$32.16	$8.10
FY24	$32.22	$8.10
FY25	$31.78	$7.86
FY26	$32.57	$7.92
FY27	$32.18	$7.69

Compared with places this size³

Luzerne’s city property tax rate of $7.69 per $1,000 is the 31st lowest of 142 Iowa cities with 70–170 people. The middle of the group is $9.63.

See all 142

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Castana	$34.13	103
2	Brayton	$25.07	138
3	Hansell	$23.66	85
4	Harris	$23.13	145
5	Whitten	$22.65	98
6	Stanley	$20.69	86
7	Rowan	$19.53	118
8	Chester	$19.30	134
9	Bouton	$19.25	125
10	Ricketts	$19.22	105
11	Hastings	$18.95	157
12	Grant	$18.71	82
13	Swaledale	$18.62	136
14	Derby	$18.13	89
15	Hillsboro	$17.68	158
16	Bristow	$17.39	139
17	Woolstock	$17.26	141
18	Monmouth	$16.41	129
19	Blockton	$16.37	123
20	Geneva	$16.25	137
21	Waterville	$16.25	112
22	Popejoy	$15.80	76
23	Woodburn	$15.59	133
24	Goodell	$15.16	139
25	Marne	$15.03	109
26	Baldwin	$14.91	99
27	Palmer	$13.89	137
28	Ayrshire	$13.55	128
29	Searsboro	$13.55	129
30	Ferguson	$13.53	98
31	Lanesboro	$13.53	112
32	Calumet	$13.16	144
33	Delaware	$12.86	139
34	Clemons	$12.69	135
35	Cylinder	$12.52	84
36	Millersburg	$12.40	135
37	Aurora	$12.40	165
38	Bridgewater	$12.29	145
39	Arion	$12.14	99
40	Webb	$12.10	139
41	Shambaugh	$11.98	161
42	Lone Rock	$11.92	143
43	East Peru	$11.89	119
44	Henderson	$11.85	140
45	Reasnor	$11.76	157
46	Morley	$11.74	94
47	Ledyard	$11.74	118
48	Toronto	$11.68	101
49	Exline	$11.60	157
50	Beaman	$11.54	155
51	Matlock	$11.44	74
52	Melrose	$11.27	110
53	Nodaway	$11.20	74
54	Linn Grove	$11.15	155
55	Promise City	$11.13	91
56	Leighton	$11.07	153
57	Masonville	$11.00	98
58	Somers	$10.99	121
59	Havelock	$10.95	127
60	Alexander	$10.90	165
61	Wallingford	$10.75	154
62	Pacific Junction	$10.56	99
63	Barnes City	$10.44	152
64	Bradgate	$10.37	76
65	Randall	$10.35	156
66	North Washington	$10.23	107
67	Dawson	$10.19	110
68	Hartwick	$9.90	91
69	Clare	$9.81	133
70	Tingley	$9.81	146
71	Rutland	$9.65	116
72	Rock Falls	$9.61	143
73	Kirkville	$9.59	159
74	Superior	$9.58	127
75	Webster	$9.55	94
76	Martinsburg	$9.49	109
77	Larrabee	$9.41	116
78	Hamilton	$9.35	125
79	Wiota	$9.32	91
80	Floris	$9.29	119
81	Mitchell	$9.22	118
82	Westphalia	$9.18	133
83	Prairieburg	$8.91	156
84	Welton	$8.86	124
85	Archer	$8.84	116
86	Luther	$8.83	147
87	Fraser	$8.81	107
88	Macksburg	$8.81	103
89	Pilot Mound	$8.54	155
90	Andover	$8.28	106
91	Thurman	$8.26	162
92	Carpenter	$8.10	92
93	Chillicothe	$8.10	79
94	Rome	$8.10	112
95	Scarville	$8.10	75
96	Unionville	$8.10	74
97	Westfield	$8.10	121
98	Vincent	$8.09	125
99	Buckeye	$7.94	82
100	Morrison	$7.86	101
101	Mount Auburn	$7.86	162
102	Haverhill	$7.86	164
103	Oyens	$7.86	88
104	Castalia	$7.86	141
105	Dickens	$7.86	146
106	Ralston	$7.86	76
107	Rose Hill	$7.86	156
108	West Chester	$7.82	147
109	Cromwell	$7.81	104
110	Mcclelland	$7.79	147
111	Arispe	$7.71	95
112	Luzerne	$7.69	111
113	Lidderdale	$7.68	162
114	Westwood	$7.67	96
115	Kinross	$7.57	80
116	Bernard	$7.56	117
117	Braddyville	$7.49	142
118	Garber	$7.35	76
119	Franklin	$7.31	133
120	Spragueville	$7.20	92
121	Weldon	$7.18	134
122	Craig	$7.01	78
123	Brunsville	$6.95	128
124	Zwingle	$6.93	86
125	Pleasant Plain	$6.79	83
126	Houghton	$6.73	129
127	Williamson	$6.72	126
128	Lincoln	$6.32	119
129	Tennant	$6.29	83
130	Gravity	$6.18	149
131	Ackworth	$5.90	117
132	Springbrook	$5.79	145
133	Maysville	$5.77	155
134	Harper	$5.29	117
135	Panorama Park	$4.62	142
136	Keomah Village	$3.15	107
137	Mcintire	$2.78	115
138	Graf	$2.56	76
139	Centralia	$2.41	117
140	New Liberty	$2.27	141
141	North Buena Vista	$1.78	107
142	Balltown	$0.12	78

The $8.10 limit

Luzerne’s general levy is $7.69 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.41 below the limit.⁴ 739 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $7.86 · FY26 $7.92 · FY27 $7.69 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

The city’s levies, FY27

What the city raises from each levy. The general levy is capped by state law; the others are set aside for one purpose.

Consolidate General Fund$22,316100%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Luzerne’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending from all funds, including city-run utilities like water and sewer (“business type”), which some cities run and others don’t. Transfers between funds are left out. “Cities this size” is the average for the 143 Iowa cities closest in size (70–170 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (143)
Public Works	46¢	28¢
General Government	26¢	26¢
Public Safety	22¢	10¢
Culture and Recreation	6¢	7¢

Planned spending, FY27

All funds: property taxes, utility and other fees, state and federal money. “Business type” is city-run utilities and enterprises like water or sewer.

Public Works$23,65044%
General Government$14,90028%
Public Safety$11,20021%
Culture and Recreation$3,7007%

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$19,650	$20,286
Public Safety	$11,000	$19,146
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$12,425	$16,503
Debt Service	$0	$0
Culture and Recreation	$3,200	$8,833
Community and Economic Development	$0	$0
Capital Projects	$0	$0
Business Type / Enterprise	$0	$0

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁵

$64,768

$48,189

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Luzerne owes

No debt at June 30, 2026.⁶

$6,946

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$0	$0
2025	$0	$0
2024	$0	$0
2023	$0	$0
2022	$0	$0
2021	$0	$0
2020	$0	$0
2019	$0	$0
2018	$0	$0
2017	$0	$0
2016	$0	$0
2015	$0	$0
2014	$0	$0
2013	$3,700	$33
2012	$6,667	$60
2011	$6,946	$62
2010	$0	$0

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$0	$0
2025	$0	$0
2024	$0	$0
2023	$0	$0
2022	$0	$0
2021	$0	$0
2020	$0	$0
2019	$0	$0
2018	$0	$0
2017	$0	$0
2016	$0	$0
2015	$0	$0
2014	$0	$0
2013	$3,700	$33
2012	$6,667	$60
2011	$6,946	$62
2010	$0	$0

Down 100% since 2011.

The 5% limit⁷

General obligation debt is $0, 0% of the limit of about $251,344 (5% of $5.0M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances⁸. Luzerne’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination, period ending Wednesday, March 31, 2021 (PDF).

Audits⁹

The latest: Periodic Examination for the period ending Wednesday, March 31, 2021 (PDF), released Monday, November 29, 2021, by a CPA firm.

State money

What the State of Iowa pays the city each year, and whether it has kept up with prices. Does state money keep pace? ¹⁰

What the state pays the city every year

Road Use Tax for streets, the commercial and industrial tax “backfill”, and ambulance reimbursement, paid every year by formula: $10,273 in FY25, up 28% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 2% more. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$9,468	$9,932	$10,217	$10,273
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$284	$249	–	–

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)+5%$7,785 → $10,273, up 32% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 5% more

Collected by the state for the city

The local option sales tax is a city tax voters approved; the state collects it with the state sales tax and sends it back. It isn’t state aid. It’s up 96% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 56% more.

$14,047

$11,562

Federal grants, for comparison: $6,930 in FY22.

Business awards

Every award statewide

Elections

Running for mayor and city council

Filing opens Monday, August 23, 2027: in 285 days.

For the Tuesday, November 2, 2027 election, candidates file Monday, August 23, 2027 to Thursday, September 16, 2027 with the county auditor (or the city clerk, if the auditor names the clerk to take them)¹¹.

In a city that can hold a primary, filing runs Monday, August 9, 2027 to Thursday, August 26, 2027.

Most recent: November 4, 2025

City · 2

Luzerne City Council At-Large

5 seats: the top 5 win.

Kelly W. Kendall Winner2422.4%
Barbara Shields Winner2321.5%
Hannah Daniels Winner2220.6%
Kyla Buttikofer Winner2018.7%
Shane Daniels Winner1816.8%

Luzerne Mayor

Joel Buttikofer Unopposed25100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Luzerne; official results are on each county auditor’s site.

Who has filed for Tuesday, November 2, 2027

Filing hasn’t opened. These seats are expected on the ballot.

Luzerne City Council At-Large (5 seats)
Now held by Kelly W. Kendall, Barbara Shields, Jeani Brandt, Joel D. Buttikofer, Kyla Buttikofer
Luzerne Mayor
Now held by Joel Buttikofer

Candidates as county auditors and civicAPI list them; a filing can take a few days to appear here¹².

Past ballot measures

None found since 2022.

When a measure can be on the ballot

Tuesday, March 2, 2027 · no bond or debt questions
Tuesday, September 14, 2027 · no bond or debt questions
Tuesday, November 2, 2027 · any question, including bonds
Tuesday, March 7, 2028 · no bond or debt questions

Bonds and other borrowing can only go on the November ballot¹³.

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁴

Charlie McClintock (Sen. 42)Thomas Gerhold (Rep. 84)

U.S. House:District 2

Benton County Belle Plaine schools

Notes

For a $200,000 home with the homestead credit, at the combined rate in most of the city. Some parts of the city pay a different rate (special districts, tax increment financing districts). ↩
Cities adopt their budgets each spring for the year starting July 1. ↩
FY27 rates from the Department of Management. A higher rate isn’t always a bigger bill: it depends on how much property there is to tax. Sizes: Census Bureau 2024 estimates. ↩
Iowa Code section 384.1, as changed by House File 718 (2023). Until FY25 a city’s regular general levy was capped at $8.10 by itself, and a city at the cap could add an emergency levy of up to $0.27. From FY25 the general levy and several smaller levies were combined into one “consolidated” general levy with an $8.10 limit; a city whose combined rate was above $8.10 lowers it in steps, in years its taxable value grows by more than the law allows, until it reaches $8.10. So years before FY25 aren’t directly comparable with later ones. ↩
The state’s FY24 spending file repeats the year before for nearly every Iowa city, so that year isn’t shown. ↩
From the reports each government files with the Treasurer of State’s debt reporting site. “Per resident” divides by the population the site lists, the same figure for every year, so the trend shows the debt itself changing. ↩
Article XI, section 3 of the Iowa Constitution limits a county, city or school district’s debt to 5% of the value of the taxable property in it. Iowa applies the limit to the full (100%) value, before the rollback, and it covers general obligation debt, backed by property taxes; revenue bonds repaid only from fees, like water bills, don’t count. Iowa Funnel compares general obligation debt with 5% of the value two years earlier, as the last tax lists before the year; a government’s own bond documents state its exact figure. ↩
The Department of Management’s city budget and annual report files on the Iowa Data Hub give revenue and spending by city, but no beginning or ending fund balances. A city’s audit or annual financial report has them, in its statement of net position and its fund balance schedules. ↩
From the Auditor of State’s list of audit reports. Every Iowa city, county and school district is audited or examined: larger ones each year by a CPA firm or the Auditor of State, small cities every few years. Findings are problems the auditors report, from weak controls over cash to breaking a law. ↩
From the city’s annual financial reports to the state (Iowa Data Hub, city actual revenues). “Today’s dollars” adjusts each year by the consumer price index for the Midwest, so a flat line in today’s dollars means the money buys the same as before. ↩
Iowa Code §376.4(1)(a): nomination papers are filed 71 to 47 days before the election, by 5:00 p.m. on the last day. Cities that may hold a primary election file earlier: 85 to 68 days before. ↩
Expected seats come from when each seat was last elected and its term. Filed candidates come from civicAPI and, in Black Hawk, Johnson and Scott counties, the auditor’s published candidate list, read weekly while filing is open. Check with the county auditor or city clerk before relying on it. Only names are shown. ↩
Iowa Code §39.2(4) (2026), paragraph d: “For any political subdivision of this state, if the special election is in whole or in part for the question of issuing bonds or other indebtedness, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.” This applies to bond elections on or after July 1, 2023. Subsection 2 adds that “a special election for a city, school district, or merged area shall not be scheduled to coincide with the general election.” A few kinds of elections follow their own rules (“unless otherwise provided by law”). ↩
Legislative and congressional districts that cover Luzerne; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Luzerne works within. ↩

Sources: City budgets and levies from the Department of Management; tax rates from the Iowa Data Hub; state payments from the Department of Revenue; prices from the consumer price index; legislative districts from Census Bureau maps.

Luzerne

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Luzerne

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Luzerne’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Luzerne owes

The 5% limit7

Money in reserve

Audits9

State money

What the state pays the city every year

Has it kept up with prices?

Collected by the state for the city

Business awards

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

Who has filed for Tuesday, November 2, 2027

Past ballot measures

When a measure can be on the ballot

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress14

Compared with places this size³

The 5% limit⁷

Audits⁹

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁴