Local taxes › Black Hawk County › Cedar Falls

City

Cedar Falls

$2,850 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($33.87 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,040 a yearof that goes to the city ($12.29 per $1,000)

$28.6Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$76.8Mcity budget, FY27, without city-run utilities (not yet reported)²

Who runs it

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

Craig A. FairbanksCedar Falls City Council Ward 5 · elected November 4, 2025
Danny LaudickCedar Falls Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Gil SchultzCedar Falls City Council Ward 1 · elected November 4, 2025
Kelly R. DunnCedar Falls City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Tom NagleCedar Falls City Council Ward 3 · elected November 4, 2025
Aaron HawbakerCedar Falls City Council Ward 4 · elected November 7, 2023
Christopher LattaCedar Falls City Council Ward 2 · elected November 7, 2023
Hannah CrismanCedar Falls 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 Cedar Falls

Homes and businesses in most of Cedar Falls pay a combined $33.71 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Black Hawk County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $12.29. Estimate your bill.

Cedar Falls schools$14.1142%
City of Cedar Falls$12.2936%
Black Hawk County$5.5717%
Hawkeye Community College$1.364%
Black Hawk County Assessor$0.27<1%
Black Hawk County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.11<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$32.54	$10.95
FY21	$33.14	$11.43
FY22	$33.01	$11.38
FY23	$34.52	$11.51
FY24	$33.78	$11.40
FY25	$33.74	$11.86
FY26	$33.93	$12.20
FY27	$33.87	$12.29

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$32.54	$10.95
FY21	$33.14	$11.43
FY22	$33.01	$11.38
FY23	$34.52	$11.51
FY24	$33.78	$11.40
FY25	$33.74	$11.86
FY26	$33.93	$12.20
FY27	$33.87	$12.29

Compared with places this size³

Cedar Falls’s city property tax rate of $12.29 per $1,000 is the 3rd lowest of 7 Iowa cities with 28,000–59,000 people. The middle of the group is $12.80.

See all 7

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Marshalltown	$16.25	27,886
2	Marion	$14.55	42,542
3	Bettendorf	$13.33	40,281
4	Waukee	$12.80	34,420
5	Cedar Falls	$12.29	41,417
6	Dubuque	$10.06	58,987
7	Urbandale	$9.98	47,759

The $8.10 limit

Cedar Falls’s general levy is $8.10 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, at the limit.⁴ 247 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.22 · FY26 $8.06 · FY27 $8.10 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $4.19 more⁵

Total Employee Benefit Levies$2.63 · $6.1M
Debt Service Levy$0.76 · $2.0M
Support of a Local Emerg. Mgmt. Comm.$0.45 · $1.0M
Opr & Maint publicly owned Transit$0.22 · $507,220
Liability, property & self insurance costs$0.13 · $298,396

Tax increment financing (TIF)

$312.6M of taxable value in Cedar Falls is in TIF districts’ increment (12% of the city’s taxable value), 2025 valuations, taxed in FY27.⁶ It budgeted $8.0M in TIF revenue for FY25.

$7.8M

$6.0M

What that value would raise at each government’s rate, FY27⁷

Taxes on TIF value go to the city’s TIF fund instead of the governments that levy them, including about $3.6M of the city’s own.

Cedar Falls schools$2.4M
Black Hawk County$1.7M
Hudson schools$218,886
Waterloo schools$205,309
Dike New Hartford schools$19,558

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$7.5M
FY17	$7.8M
FY18	$4.5M
FY19	$3.8M
FY20	$2.8M
FY21	$4.0M
FY22	$6.6M
FY23	$6.0M

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$7.5M
FY17	$7.8M
FY18	$4.5M
FY19	$3.8M
FY20	$2.8M
FY21	$4.0M
FY22	$6.6M
FY23	$6.0M

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$18.6M65%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$6.1M21%
Debt Service Levy$2.0M7%
Support of a Local Emerg. Mgmt. Comm.$1.0M4%
Opr & Maint publicly owned Transit$507,2202%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$298,3961%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Cedar Falls’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 6 Iowa cities closest in size (28,000–59,000 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (6)
Capital Projects	23¢	26¢
Public Works	20¢	6¢
Business Type / Enterprise	18¢	29¢
Public Safety	17¢	15¢
Culture and Recreation	10¢	5¢
Everything else	14¢	20¢

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.

Capital Projects$18.2M24%
Public Safety$17.4M23%
Public Works$16.9M22%
Culture and Recreation$10.3M13%
General Government$7.0M9%
Community and Economic Development$3.6M5%
Debt Service$3.1M4%
Health and Social Services$361,0000%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($17.7M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$19.4M	$17.6M
Public Safety	$13.4M	$13.1M
Health and Social Services	$28,000	$26,470
General Government	$6.3M	$6.8M
Debt Service	$2.1M	$1.6M
Culture and Recreation	$8.7M	$7.6M
Community and Economic Development	$3.0M	$2.7M
Capital Projects	$30.5M	$22.4M
Business Type / Enterprise	$9.2M	$10.3M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁸

$114.9M

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Cedar Falls owes

$14.6M at June 30, 2026: $359 per resident. 663rd most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁹

$25.0M

$14.6M

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$14.6M	$359
2025	$17.5M	$430
2024	$15.5M	$381
2023	$18.0M	$441
2022	$16.2M	$399
2021	$18.3M	$450
2020	$16.7M	$410
2019	$19.4M	$477
2018	$15.4M	$378
2017	$19.2M	$472
2016	$12.1M	$298
2015	$14.3M	$350
2014	$16.4M	$402
2013	$13.4M	$330
2012	$16.9M	$414
2011	$20.8M	$510
2010	$25.0M	$614

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$14.6M	$359
2025	$17.5M	$430
2024	$15.5M	$381
2023	$18.0M	$441
2022	$16.2M	$399
2021	$18.3M	$450
2020	$16.7M	$410
2019	$19.4M	$477
2018	$15.4M	$378
2017	$19.2M	$472
2016	$12.1M	$298
2015	$14.3M	$350
2014	$16.4M	$402
2013	$13.4M	$330
2012	$16.9M	$414
2011	$20.8M	$510
2010	$25.0M	$614

Down 42% since 2010.

The 5% limit¹⁰

General obligation debt is $11.7M, 5% of the limit of about $228.9M (5% of $4.58B, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

8 obligations at June 30, 2026

Kind	For	Paid off by	Owed
General Obligation	Aldrich School Connections, Main St, Annual St Repair, Union Rd Culvert, Cameras, Fire Truck Down payment	2037	$4.3M
General Obligation	Greenhill Rd & S Main St; Main St Recon; Cedar Hgts Dr. Recon; Sidewalks, Cedar River improv; financial system	2035	$3.1M
Revenue Bonds	Disinfection Treatment Plant	2033	$3.0M
General Obligation	Cedar Heights Reconstr;OliveSt.BoxCulvert;UnionRdRecTrail;SlopeRepair; Greenhill SMain Intersection;FireTruck Replacement; SidewalkReconstruction;	2030	$1.6M
General Obligation	Dry Run Creek Sanitary Sewer, University Ave. Sewer, W 1st St. Sewer, Oak Park Sewer Replacement	2028	$1.3M
General Obligation	McMahill St, Center St Trl, Greenhill Rd Ext, Fire truck, McMahill Park, sidwalks, street lighting, park improvements	2028	$690,000
General Obligation	W 1st St Sewer, Plant Digester Design, and Regionalization study with Waterloo	2028	$515,000
General Obligation	Misc. Stormwater projects	2028	$220,000

General obligation bonds are repaid from property taxes; revenue bonds and loans from the fees or revenue they’re tied to. On the Treasurer’s site

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances¹¹. Cedar Falls’s latest audit has them: Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF).

Audits¹²

The latest: Financial Statement for the period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF), released Tuesday, December 23, 2025, by a CPA firm.

16 earlier reports for Cedar Falls

Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2023Thursday, November 9, 2023
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2022Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2021Friday, November 19, 2021
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2020Friday, November 20, 2020
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2019Thursday, November 21, 2019
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2018Monday, December 3, 2018
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2017Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2016Friday, December 9, 2016
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2015Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2014Friday, November 7, 2014
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2013Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2012Friday, November 30, 2012
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2011Monday, November 21, 2011
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2010Monday, November 29, 2010
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2009Thursday, November 12, 2009

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? ¹³

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: $6.7M in FY25, up 15% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 8% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$5.6M	$5.6M	$5.8M	$5.8M
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$741,228	$648,575	$955,366	$890,032

Grants and project money

State grants and money for specific projects (roads, development, natural resources) vary with what the city applies for and wins, so they aren’t counted as the state’s regular support.

$3.6M

$919,695

Iowa DOT projects$648,88871%
Iowa Department of Natural Resources$207,25323%
Other$50,6406%
Monies & Credits$12,9141%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$3.6M
FY20	$1.5M
FY21	$1.0M
FY22	$699,341
FY23	$3.4M
FY24	$1.8M
FY25	$919,695

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$3.6M
FY20	$1.5M
FY21	$1.0M
FY22	$699,341
FY23	$3.4M
FY24	$1.8M
FY25	$919,695

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−9%$5.1M → $5.8M, up 14% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 9% less
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)−3%$731,781 → $890,032, up 22% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 3% less

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 35% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 7% more.

$7.3M

$7.0M

Federal grants, for comparison: $2.3M in FY25.

Business awards

Every award statewide

State economic development awards

2 businesses have state awards in CEDAR FALLS: $352K in grants, loans and tax benefits, for 11 jobs. Closed projects promised 5 jobs; 5 were there at the end.¹⁴

LAFORGE, LLC
High Quality Jobs Program · FY24 · Under contract: Building · 6 jobs required
$100K
Buckeye Corrugated Inc.
High Quality Jobs Program · FY18 · Closed: Met its contract · 5 jobs required, 5 at the end
$252K

Community college new jobs training: 70 contracts since 1995 worth $29.4M, for 3,513 pledged jobs.

Awards statewide

Elections

Running for mayor and city council

Filing opens Monday, August 23, 2027: in 284 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)¹⁵.

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 · 5

Cedar Falls City Council At-Large

Kelly R. Dunn Unopposed4,213100.0%

Cedar Falls City Council Ward 1

Gil Schultz Unopposed864100.0%

Cedar Falls City Council Ward 3

Tom Nagle Winner51437.9%
Daryl F. Kruse 43231.9%
Bob Manning 41030.2%

Cedar Falls City Council Ward 5

Craig A. Fairbanks Unopposed1,011100.0%

Cedar Falls Mayor

Danny Laudick Unopposed4,959100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Cedar Falls; 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.

Cedar Falls City Council At-Large
Now held by Hannah Crisman
Cedar Falls City Council Ward 2
Now held by Christopher Latta
Cedar Falls City Council Ward 4
Now held by Aaron Hawbaker
Cedar Falls Mayor
Now held by Danny Laudick

Candidates as county auditors and civicAPI list them; a filing can take a few days to appear here¹⁶.

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 ballot¹⁷.

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁸

Dave Sires (Sen. 38)Bob Kressig (Rep. 75, 91%)Derek Wulf (Rep. 76, 9%)

U.S. House:District 2

Black Hawk County Cedar Falls schools Dike-New Hartford schools Hudson schools Waterloo 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. ↩
Levies outside the limit are each set aside for one purpose and have their own rules: debt service pays back bonds voters or the council approved, employee benefits cover pensions and insurance, and some (transit, an airport, insurance costs) have their own caps in state law. ↩
Tax increment financing: when a city sets up a TIF district, the taxable value there is frozen at a “base”. Taxes on the base go to every government as usual; taxes on the growth in value since (the “increment”) go to the city’s TIF fund to pay for the project, such as roads, utilities or a developer rebate, until the district ends. From the state’s valuation file (Iowa Data Hub), valuation year 2025. ↩
This multiplies the taxable value in the city’s TIF districts by each government’s rate on TIF value. It is not the money each government lost: without TIF, the same taxes would be spread over a bigger base, so rates would be lower for everyone; the state’s school aid formula makes up much of a school district’s share; and some of the value might not have been built without TIF. Each government still gets its debt service levy on TIF value, and a school district its physical plant and equipment and instructional support levies; those aren’t counted here. Community colleges, assessors and other smaller levies are left out. ↩
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. ↩
From the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s project records on the Iowa Data Hub (High Quality Jobs and Targeted Jobs awards since about 2013). Projects that won’t go ahead aren’t counted. ↩
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 Cedar Falls; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Cedar Falls 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.

Cedar Falls

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Cedar Falls

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $4.19 more5

Tax increment financing (TIF)

What that value would raise at each government’s rate, FY277

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Cedar Falls’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Cedar Falls owes

The 5% limit10

Money in reserve

Audits12

State money

What the state pays the city every year

Grants and project money

Has it kept up with prices?

Collected by the state for the city

Business awards

State economic development 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 Congress18

Compared with places this size³

Outside the limit: $4.19 more⁵

What that value would raise at each government’s rate, FY27⁷

The 5% limit¹⁰

Audits¹²

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁸