Local taxes › Clayton County › North Buena Vista

City

North Buena Vista

$1,810 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($21.47 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$150 a yearof that goes to the city ($1.78 per $1,000)

$12,836property taxes the city levies, FY27

$90,198city budget, all funds, FY27²

Who runs it

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

Alan BreitbachNorth Buena Vista Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Diane LudovissyNorth Buena Vista City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
James GordonNorth Buena Vista City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Lacey LudovissyNorth Buena Vista City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Pam BreitbachNorth Buena Vista City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Robert LudovissyNorth Buena Vista City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Ken LudovissyNorth Buena Vista 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 North Buena Vista

Homes and businesses in most of North Buena Vista pay a combined $21.47 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Clayton County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $1.78. Estimate your bill.

Starmont schools$10.7950%
Clayton County$6.8932%
City of North Buena Vista$1.788%
Indian Hills Community College$1.246%
Garnavillo-Garnavillo Cemetery$0.482%
Clayton County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.231%
Buena Vista-North Buena Vista Cem$0.05<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$20.87	$2.02
FY21	$21.64	$2.03
FY22	$21.11	$2.04
FY23	$20.80	$1.96
FY24	$21.55	$2.05
FY25	$21.87	$2.01
FY26	$21.96	$1.96
FY27	$21.47	$1.78

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$20.87	$2.02
FY21	$21.64	$2.03
FY22	$21.11	$2.04
FY23	$20.80	$1.96
FY24	$21.55	$2.05
FY25	$21.87	$2.01
FY26	$21.96	$1.96
FY27	$21.47	$1.78

Compared with places this size³

North Buena Vista’s city property tax rate of $1.78 per $1,000 is the 2nd lowest of 139 Iowa cities with 70–160 people. The middle of the group is $9.59.

See all 139

#	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	Bridgewater	$12.29	145
38	Arion	$12.14	99
39	Webb	$12.10	139
40	Lone Rock	$11.92	143
41	East Peru	$11.89	119
42	Henderson	$11.85	140
43	Reasnor	$11.76	157
44	Morley	$11.74	94
45	Ledyard	$11.74	118
46	Toronto	$11.68	101
47	Exline	$11.60	157
48	Beaman	$11.54	155
49	Matlock	$11.44	74
50	Melrose	$11.27	110
51	Nodaway	$11.20	74
52	Linn Grove	$11.15	155
53	Promise City	$11.13	91
54	Leighton	$11.07	153
55	Masonville	$11.00	98
56	Somers	$10.99	121
57	Havelock	$10.95	127
58	Wallingford	$10.75	154
59	Pacific Junction	$10.56	99
60	Barnes City	$10.44	152
61	Bradgate	$10.37	76
62	Randall	$10.35	156
63	North Washington	$10.23	107
64	Dawson	$10.19	110
65	Hartwick	$9.90	91
66	Clare	$9.81	133
67	Tingley	$9.81	146
68	Rutland	$9.65	116
69	Rock Falls	$9.61	143
70	Kirkville	$9.59	159
71	Superior	$9.58	127
72	Webster	$9.55	94
73	Martinsburg	$9.49	109
74	Larrabee	$9.41	116
75	Hamilton	$9.35	125
76	Wiota	$9.32	91
77	Floris	$9.29	119
78	Mitchell	$9.22	118
79	Westphalia	$9.18	133
80	Prairieburg	$8.91	156
81	Welton	$8.86	124
82	Archer	$8.84	116
83	Luther	$8.83	147
84	Fraser	$8.81	107
85	Macksburg	$8.81	103
86	Pilot Mound	$8.54	155
87	Andover	$8.28	106
88	Carpenter	$8.10	92
89	Chillicothe	$8.10	79
90	Rome	$8.10	112
91	Scarville	$8.10	75
92	Shannon City	$8.10	73
93	Struble	$8.10	72
94	Unionville	$8.10	74
95	Westfield	$8.10	121
96	Vincent	$8.09	125
97	Buckeye	$7.94	82
98	Morrison	$7.86	101
99	Oyens	$7.86	88
100	Castalia	$7.86	141
101	Dickens	$7.86	146
102	Ralston	$7.86	76
103	Chatsworth	$7.86	72
104	Rose Hill	$7.86	156
105	West Chester	$7.82	147
106	Cromwell	$7.81	104
107	Mcclelland	$7.79	147
108	Arispe	$7.71	95
109	Luzerne	$7.69	111
110	Westwood	$7.67	96
111	Kinross	$7.57	80
112	Bernard	$7.56	117
113	Braddyville	$7.49	142
114	Garber	$7.35	76
115	Franklin	$7.31	133
116	Spragueville	$7.20	92
117	Weldon	$7.18	134
118	Craig	$7.01	78
119	Brunsville	$6.95	128
120	Zwingle	$6.93	86
121	Pleasant Plain	$6.79	83
122	Houghton	$6.73	129
123	Williamson	$6.72	126
124	Willey	$6.69	72
125	Lincoln	$6.32	119
126	Tennant	$6.29	83
127	Gravity	$6.18	149
128	Ackworth	$5.90	117
129	Springbrook	$5.79	145
130	Maysville	$5.77	155
131	Harper	$5.29	117
132	Panorama Park	$4.62	142
133	Keomah Village	$3.15	107
134	Mcintire	$2.78	115
135	Graf	$2.56	76
136	Centralia	$2.41	117
137	New Liberty	$2.27	141
138	North Buena Vista	$1.78	107
139	Balltown	$0.12	78

The $8.10 limit

North Buena Vista’s general levy is $1.78 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $6.32 below the limit.⁴ 932 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $1.96 · FY24 $2.05 · FY25 $2.01 · FY26 $1.96 · FY27 $1.78 (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$12,836100%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of North Buena Vista’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 140 Iowa cities closest in size (70–160 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (140)
Public Works	51¢	29¢
General Government	34¢	27¢
Culture and Recreation	12¢	7¢
Public Safety	4¢	9¢

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$46,10051%
Community and Economic Development$20,60023%
General Government$15,75017%
Public Safety$5,2486%
Culture and Recreation$2,5003%

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$27,300	$78,484
Public Safety	$2,000	$0
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$15,000	$13,148
Debt Service	$0	$0
Culture and Recreation	$500	$990
Community and Economic Development	$0	$0
Capital Projects	$0	$0
Business Type / Enterprise	$0	$0

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁵

$92,622

$54,612

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What North Buena Vista owes

No debt at June 30, 2026.⁶

$25,015

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	$3,000	$28
2012	$24,500	$225
2011	$0	$0
2010	$25,015	$229

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	$3,000	$28
2012	$24,500	$225
2011	$0	$0
2010	$25,015	$229

Down 100% since 2010.

The 5% limit⁷

General obligation debt is $0, 0% of the limit of about $684,068 (5% of $13.7M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances⁸. North Buena Vista’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination, period ending Monday, March 31, 2025 (PDF).

Audits⁹

The latest: Periodic Examination for the period ending Monday, March 31, 2025 (PDF), released Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 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: $13,634 in FY25, up 34% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 7% more. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$7,210	$8,906	$10,010	$13,634

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.

$9,015

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$0
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$9,015
FY23	$0
FY24	$0
FY25	$0

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$0
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$9,015
FY23	$0
FY24	$0
FY25	$0

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)+7%$10,147 → $13,634, up 34% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 7% 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 18% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 6% less.

$14,085

Federal grants, for comparison: $9,046 in FY23.

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

North Buena Vista City Council At-Large

5 seats: the top 5 win.

Pam Breitbach Winner2422.6%
Diane Ludovissy Winner2321.7%
James Gordon Winner2119.8%
Robert Ludovissy Winner2119.8%
Lacey Ludovissy Winner1716.0%

North Buena Vista Mayor

Alan Breitbach Unopposed26100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for North Buena Vista; 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.

North Buena Vista City Council At-Large (5 seats)
Now held by Robert Ludovissy, Diane Ludovissy, James Gordon, Pam Breitbach, Ken Ludovissy
North Buena Vista Mayor
Now held by Alan Breitbach

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

Mike Klimesh (Sen. 32)Jason Gearhart (Rep. 64)

U.S. House:District 2

Clayton County Starmont 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 North Buena Vista; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget North Buena Vista 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.

North Buena Vista

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in North Buena Vista

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of North Buena Vista’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What North Buena Vista 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