City

Waverly

$3,280 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($38.89 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,480 a yearof that goes to the city ($17.53 per $1,000)

$10.0Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$22.6Mcity 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.

Ann L. RatheWaverly City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Bard MackeyWaverly City Council Ward 3 · elected November 4, 2025
Kristin HappelWaverly Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Luana HarmanWaverly City Council Ward 1 · elected November 4, 2025
Timothy C. KangasWaverly City Council Ward 5 · elected November 4, 2025
Brent JonesWaverly City Council Ward 4 · elected November 7, 2023
Jennifer WolffWaverly City Council Ward 2 · elected November 7, 2023
Julie MeyersWaverly City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Laurie EverhardtWaverly Hospital Trustee At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Molly HallWaverly Hospital Trustee At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Ann Henninger TraxWaverly Hospital Trustee At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
David J. RatheWaverly Hospital Trustee At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Jeff MeyersWaverly Hospital Trustee 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 Waverly

Homes and businesses in most of Waverly pay a combined $38.89 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Bremer County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $17.53. Estimate your bill.

City of Waverly$17.5345%
Waverly-Shell Rock schools$14.1336%
Bremer County$5.3214%
Hawkeye Community College$1.363%
Bremer County Assessor$0.37<1%
Bremer County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.18<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$33.16	$14.37
FY21	$35.17	$15.69
FY22	$35.56	$16.33
FY23	$34.66	$16.33
FY24	$35.56	$16.97
FY25	$37.70	$17.12
FY26	$37.69	$17.32
FY27	$38.89	$17.53

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$33.16	$14.37
FY21	$35.17	$15.69
FY22	$35.56	$16.33
FY23	$34.66	$16.33
FY24	$35.56	$16.97
FY25	$37.70	$17.12
FY26	$37.69	$17.32
FY27	$38.89	$17.53

Compared with places this size³

Waverly’s city property tax rate of $17.53 per $1,000 is the 5th highest of 29 Iowa cities with 7,100–16,000 people. The middle of the group is $15.13.

See all 29

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Keokuk	$19.68	9,462
2	Fort Madison	$18.84	9,983
3	Denison	$18.69	8,302
4	Perry	$17.91	8,046
5	Waverly	$17.53	10,576
6	Knoxville	$17.46	7,440
7	Newton	$17.10	15,709
8	Fairfield	$16.69	9,511
9	Webster City	$16.51	7,763
10	Charles City	$15.95	7,081
11	Grinnell	$15.60	9,495
12	Decorah	$15.52	7,454
13	Washington	$15.21	7,281
14	Storm Lake	$15.17	11,627
15	Boone	$15.13	12,461
16	Creston	$14.99	7,421
17	Norwalk	$14.89	15,396
18	Nevada	$14.58	7,082
19	Oskaloosa	$14.47	11,575
20	Spencer	$13.84	11,418
21	Hiawatha	$13.78	7,347
22	Pleasant Hill	$12.10	11,942
23	Mount Pleasant	$11.94	8,509
24	Carroll	$11.25	10,125
25	Le Mars	$11.18	10,674
26	Sioux Center	$11.05	8,675
27	Bondurant	$10.82	9,511
28	Pella	$10.75	10,965
29	Clear Lake	$9.85	7,602

The $8.10 limit

Waverly’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 $8.23 · FY26 $8.00 · FY27 $8.10 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $9.43 more⁵

Debt Service Levy$5.16 · $3.0M
Total Employee Benefit Levies$3.75 · $2.1M
Liability, property & self insurance costs$0.53 · $294,383

Tax increment financing (TIF)

$29.4M of taxable value in Waverly is in TIF districts’ increment (5% of the city’s taxable value), 2025 valuations, taxed in FY27.⁶ It budgeted $1.2M in TIF revenue for FY25.

$1.9M

$1.2M

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$1.8M
FY17	$1.9M
FY18	$1.2M
FY19	$1.3M
FY20	$1.3M
FY21	$1.5M
FY22	$1.3M
FY23	$1.2M

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$1.8M
FY17	$1.9M
FY18	$1.2M
FY19	$1.3M
FY20	$1.3M
FY21	$1.5M
FY22	$1.3M
FY23	$1.2M

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$4.5M45%
Debt Service Levy$3.0M31%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$2.1M21%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$294,3833%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Waverly’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 28 Iowa cities closest in size (7,100–16,000 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (28)
Capital Projects	31¢	22¢
Business Type / Enterprise	19¢	34¢
Debt Service	16¢	7¢
Culture and Recreation	11¢	7¢
Public Safety	10¢	14¢
Everything else	13¢	16¢

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.

Debt Service$5.2M23%
Capital Projects$4.9M22%
Culture and Recreation$4.0M18%
Public Safety$3.6M16%
Public Works$3.0M13%
General Government$1.4M6%
Community and Economic Development$504,0612%
Health and Social Services$10,3940%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($6.6M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$2.6M	$1.9M
Public Safety	$2.9M	$2.7M
Health and Social Services	$9,874	$10,394
General Government	$1.9M	$1.3M
Debt Service	$4.7M	$4.7M
Culture and Recreation	$3.6M	$3.8M
Community and Economic Development	$698,734	$524,374
Capital Projects	$8.0M	$8.7M
Business Type / Enterprise	$5.7M	$5.6M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁷

$37.5M

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? ⁸

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: $1.6M in FY25, up 9% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 13% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$1.4M	$1.4M	$1.5M	$1.5M
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$57,387	$88,979	$376,451	$127,201

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.

$7.2M

$209,038

State grants$193,48693%
Iowa DOT projects$15,5527%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$53,544
FY20	$610,214
FY21	$2.1M
FY22	$7.2M
FY23	$3.3M
FY24	$2.4M
FY25	$209,038

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$53,544
FY20	$610,214
FY21	$2.1M
FY22	$7.2M
FY23	$3.3M
FY24	$2.4M
FY25	$209,038

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−8%$1.3M → $1.5M, up 16% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 8% less
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)−48%$193,411 → $127,201, down 34% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 48% 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 14% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 9% less.

$3.1M

$2.0M

Federal grants, for comparison: $691,916 in FY25.

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

City · 6

Waverly City Council At-Large

Ann L. Rathe Unopposed1,070100.0%

Waverly City Council Ward 1

Luana Harman Winner18262.3%
Scott Wallace 11037.7%

Waverly City Council Ward 3

Bard Mackey Unopposed89100.0%

Waverly City Council Ward 5

Timothy C. Kangas Unopposed314100.0%

Waverly Hospital Trustee At-Large

2 seats: the top 2 win.

Laurie Everhardt Winner96352.3%
Molly Hall Winner87847.7%

Waverly Mayor

Kristin Happel Unopposed1,061100.0%

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

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁹

Sandy Salmon (Sen. 29)Pat Grassley (Rep. 57)

U.S. House:District 2

Bremer County Waverly-Shell Rock 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. ↩
The state’s FY24 spending file repeats the year before for nearly every Iowa city, so that year isn’t shown. ↩
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. ↩
Legislative and congressional districts that cover Waverly; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Waverly 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.

Waverly

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Waverly

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $9.43 more5

Tax increment financing (TIF)

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Waverly’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

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

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress9

Compared with places this size³

Outside the limit: $9.43 more⁵

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁹