City

Ralston

$2,420 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($28.78 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$660 a yearof that goes to the city ($7.86 per $1,000)

$137,745property taxes the city levies, FY27

$174,792city 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.

Casey SmickRalston City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Curtis G. HikeRalston Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Drew SorensenRalston City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Annie JohnstonRalston 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 Ralston

Homes and businesses in most of Ralston pay a combined $25.82 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Carroll County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $7.86. Estimate your bill.

Glidden-Ralston schools$12.6649%
City of Ralston$7.8630%
Carroll County$3.9015%
Des Moines Area Community College$0.813%
Carroll County Assessor$0.432%
Carroll County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.16<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$24.38	$8.72
FY21	$23.68	$7.81
FY22	$24.20	$8.61
FY23	$24.68	$9.08
FY24	$25.38	$9.24
FY25	$23.42	$7.78
FY26	$24.63	$8.10
FY27	$25.82	$7.86

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$24.38	$8.72
FY21	$23.68	$7.81
FY22	$24.20	$8.61
FY23	$24.68	$9.08
FY24	$25.38	$9.24
FY25	$23.42	$7.78
FY26	$24.63	$8.10
FY27	$25.82	$7.86

Compared with places this size³

Ralston’s city property tax rate of $7.86 per $1,000 is the 25th lowest of 91 Iowa cities with 50–110 people. The middle of the group is $9.44.

See all 91

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Castana	$34.13	103
2	Dougherty	$25.38	61
3	Hansell	$23.66	85
4	Whitten	$22.65	98
5	Stanley	$20.69	86
6	Ricketts	$19.22	105
7	Varina	$19.09	69
8	Sharpsburg	$18.93	69
9	Grant	$18.71	82
10	Derby	$18.13	89
11	Vining	$16.97	53
12	Waterville	$16.25	112
13	Northboro	$15.81	52
14	Popejoy	$15.80	76
15	Marne	$15.03	109
16	Baldwin	$14.91	99
17	Truesdale	$14.56	64
18	Yorktown	$14.48	60
19	Ferguson	$13.53	98
20	Lanesboro	$13.53	112
21	Cylinder	$12.52	84
22	Aredale	$12.19	59
23	Colwell	$12.14	52
24	Arion	$12.14	99
25	Dolliver	$11.85	63
26	Morley	$11.74	94
27	Toronto	$11.68	101
28	Matlock	$11.44	74
29	Melrose	$11.27	110
30	Nodaway	$11.20	74
31	Promise City	$11.13	91
32	Plover	$11.10	52
33	Masonville	$11.00	98
34	Numa	$10.80	69
35	Pacific Junction	$10.56	99
36	Oto	$10.45	71
37	Bradgate	$10.37	76
38	North Washington	$10.23	107
39	Dawson	$10.19	110
40	Guernsey	$10.13	59
41	Hartwick	$9.90	91
42	Gray	$9.85	62
43	Webster	$9.55	94
44	Nemaha	$9.53	65
45	Martinsburg	$9.49	109
46	Kirkman	$9.44	60
47	Wiota	$9.32	91
48	Fraser	$8.81	107
49	Macksburg	$8.81	103
50	Andover	$8.28	106
51	Knierim	$8.13	53
52	Carpenter	$8.10	92
53	Chillicothe	$8.10	79
54	Clio	$8.10	67
55	Orchard	$8.10	64
56	Rome	$8.10	112
57	Scarville	$8.10	75
58	Shannon City	$8.10	73
59	Struble	$8.10	72
60	Turin	$8.10	69
61	Unionville	$8.10	74
62	Buckeye	$7.94	82
63	Gruver	$7.89	63
64	Redding	$7.86	64
65	Morrison	$7.86	101
66	Oyens	$7.86	88
67	Ralston	$7.86	76
68	Chatsworth	$7.86	72
69	Cromwell	$7.81	104
70	Arispe	$7.71	95
71	Luzerne	$7.69	111
72	Westwood	$7.67	96
73	Kinross	$7.57	80
74	Bevington	$7.41	62
75	Garber	$7.35	76
76	Spring Hill	$7.26	68
77	Greenville	$7.24	69
78	Spragueville	$7.20	92
79	Craig	$7.01	78
80	Zwingle	$6.93	86
81	Pleasant Plain	$6.79	83
82	Willey	$6.69	72
83	Tennant	$6.29	83
84	Sandyville	$6.06	59
85	Plano	$4.66	57
86	Hardy	$4.36	55
87	Keomah Village	$3.15	107
88	Graf	$2.56	76
89	Gibson	$1.88	58
90	North Buena Vista	$1.78	107
91	Balltown	$0.12	78

The $8.10 limit

Ralston’s general levy is $7.86 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.24 below the limit.⁴ 640 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $7.92 · FY24 $8.01 · FY25 $7.78 · FY26 $8.10 · FY27 $7.86 (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$133,022100%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Ralston’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 92 Iowa cities closest in size (50–110 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (92)
Business Type / Enterprise	50¢	14¢
Public Works	17¢	32¢
General Government	15¢	32¢
Public Safety	8¢	11¢
Culture and Recreation	5¢	6¢
Everything else	5¢	3¢

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.

General Government$55,72732%
Public Works$47,77527%
Public Safety$36,77021%
Culture and Recreation$17,30010%
Community and Economic Development$10,0006%
Debt Service$6,0203%
Health and Social Services$1,2001%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($164,981 in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$59,500	$29,928
Public Safety	$21,200	$14,367
Health and Social Services	$1,000	$920
General Government	$48,000	$33,903
Debt Service	$17,240	$10,963
Culture and Recreation	$16,200	$7,686
Community and Economic Development	$2,500	$0
Capital Projects	$120,000	$0
Business Type / Enterprise	$70,080	$59,458

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁵

$505,976

$307,118

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Ralston owes

$142,000 at June 30, 2026: $1,753 per resident. 412th most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁶

$454,660

$142,000

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$142,000	$1,753
2025	$155,000	$1,914
2024	$168,000	$2,074
2023	$365,147	$4,508
2022	$381,148	$4,706
2021	$396,148	$4,891
2020	$454,660	$5,613
2019	$347,073	$4,285
2018	$330,275	$4,077
2017	$39,640	$489
2016	$0	$0
2015	$0	$0
2014	$0	$0
2013	$0	$0
2012	$0	$0
2011	$0	$0
2010	$0	$0

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$142,000	$1,753
2025	$155,000	$1,914
2024	$168,000	$2,074
2023	$365,147	$4,508
2022	$381,148	$4,706
2021	$396,148	$4,891
2020	$454,660	$5,613
2019	$347,073	$4,285
2018	$330,275	$4,077
2017	$39,640	$489
2016	$0	$0
2015	$0	$0
2014	$0	$0
2013	$0	$0
2012	$0	$0
2011	$0	$0
2010	$0	$0

Up 258% since 2017.

The 5% limit⁷

General obligation debt is $51,000, 5% of the limit of about $1.1M (5% of $21.1M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

2 obligations at June 30, 2026

Kind	For	Paid off by	Owed
Revenue Bonds	DF0386R Water improvements	2036	$91,000
General Obligation	DF0402G Water improvements	2036	$51,000

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 balances⁸. Ralston’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 Tuesday, November 23, 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: $9,519 in FY25, up 278% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 201% more. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$9,034	$6,670	$5,433	$5,947
Road Use Tax (streets)	$2,750	$3,406	$3,552	$3,572

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.

$1,353

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$0
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$0
FY23	$0
FY24	$1,353
FY25	$0

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$0
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$0
FY23	$0
FY24	$1,353
FY25	$0

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)+13%$2,518 → $3,572, up 42% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 13% 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 31% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 4% more.

$16,612

$16,472

Federal grants, for comparison: $106,095 in FY24.

Business awards

Every award 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)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

Ralston City Council At-Large

2 seats: the top 2 win.

Drew Sorensen Winner1242.9%
Casey Smick Winner1035.7%
David Sanderson 621.4%

Ralston Mayor

Curtis G. Hike Unopposed14100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Ralston; 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.

Ralston City Council At-Large
Now held by Annie Johnston
Ralston Mayor
Now held by Curtis G. Hike

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

Jason Schultz (Sen. 6)Craig Steven Williams (Rep. 11)

U.S. House:District 4

Carroll County Glidden-Ralston 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 Ralston; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Ralston 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.

Ralston

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Ralston

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Ralston’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Ralston owes

The 5% limit7

Money in reserve

Audits9

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

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