City

De Witt

$3,110 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($36.87 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,190 a yearof that goes to the city ($14.07 per $1,000)

$3.8Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$16.4Mcity 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.

No officials known 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 De Witt

Homes and businesses in most of De Witt pay a combined $25.80 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Clinton County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $14.07. Estimate your bill.

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$37.45	$14.26
FY21	$37.01	$14.26
FY22	$37.80	$14.26
FY23	$37.51	$14.26
FY24	$37.01	$14.26
FY25	$36.45	$14.07
FY26	$38.78	$14.07
FY27	$36.87	$14.07

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$37.45	$14.26
FY21	$37.01	$14.26
FY22	$37.80	$14.26
FY23	$37.51	$14.26
FY24	$37.01	$14.26
FY25	$36.45	$14.07
FY26	$38.78	$14.07
FY27	$36.87	$14.07

The $8.10 limit

De Witt’s general levy is $7.94 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.16 below the limit.³ 487 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.10 · FY26 $8.10 · FY27 $7.94 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $6.13 more⁴

Total Employee Benefit Levies$3.02 · $785,090
Debt Service Levy$1.99 · $683,946
Liability, property & self insurance costs$1.13 · $293,372

Tax increment financing (TIF)

De Witt’s TIF revenue, from its reports to the state. It budgeted $2.5M in TIF revenue for FY25.

$2.8M

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$1.7M
FY17	$1.8M
FY18	$1.9M
FY19	$2.1M
FY20	$2.1M
FY21	$2.4M
FY22	$2.4M
FY23	$2.8M

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$1.7M
FY17	$1.8M
FY18	$1.9M
FY19	$2.1M
FY20	$2.1M
FY21	$2.4M
FY22	$2.4M
FY23	$2.8M

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$2.1M54%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$785,09021%
Debt Service Levy$683,94618%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$293,3728%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

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$7.1M43%
Public Safety$2.3M14%
Debt Service$2.2M13%
Culture and Recreation$1.9M12%
Public Works$1.5M9%
General Government$799,5655%
Community and Economic Development$557,9263%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($2.8M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$1.2M	$1.4M
Public Safety	$1.7M	$1.7M
Health and Social Services	$0	$1,650
General Government	$642,532	$638,081
Debt Service	$3.2M	$3.3M
Culture and Recreation	$1.5M	$1.6M
Community and Economic Development	$329,547	$334,978
Capital Projects	$5.2M	$4.1M
Business Type / Enterprise	$2.8M	$2.7M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁵

$24.1M

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What De Witt owes

$18.2M at June 30, 2026: $3,307 per resident. 250th most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁶

$23.3M

$18.2M

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$18.2M	$3,307
2025	$23.3M	$4,219
2024	$22.7M	$4,116
2023	$19.4M	$3,515
2022	$19.9M	$3,617
2021	$16.0M	$2,901
2020	$18.4M	$3,336
2019	$18.1M	$3,287
2018	$14.5M	$2,635
2017	$17.3M	$3,130
2016	$18.0M	$3,260
2015	$17.9M	$3,246
2014	$15.2M	$2,752
2013	$15.9M	$2,886
2012	$15.8M	$2,858
2011	$16.5M	$2,999
2010	$17.9M	$3,255

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$18.2M	$3,307
2025	$23.3M	$4,219
2024	$22.7M	$4,116
2023	$19.4M	$3,515
2022	$19.9M	$3,617
2021	$16.0M	$2,901
2020	$18.4M	$3,336
2019	$18.1M	$3,287
2018	$14.5M	$2,635
2017	$17.3M	$3,130
2016	$18.0M	$3,260
2015	$17.9M	$3,246
2014	$15.2M	$2,752
2013	$15.9M	$2,886
2012	$15.8M	$2,858
2011	$16.5M	$2,999
2010	$17.9M	$3,255

Up 2% since 2010.

The 5% limit⁷

General obligation debt is $17.9M, 128% of the limit of about $14.0M (5% of $280.1M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

8 obligations at June 30, 2026

Kind	For	Paid off by	Owed
General Obligation	refunding 2017 GO and new funds for 2022 street, fire station expansion, trail planning, pickleball courts	2037	$5.2M
General Obligation	library expansion/renovation, S. 6th Avenue, 10th storm water project	2033	$3.2M
General Obligation	N 6th Ave reconstruction, trail extension, new PW building	2039	$2.4M
General Obligation	Additional funds for fire station project and pickleball project	2038	$2.0M
General Obligation	refunding of 2015 and 2016 go bonds	2036	$1.9M
General Obligation	refund 2013 and 2014 GO	2034	$1.6M
General Obligation	street shop,parks property purchase, Ind St extension	2036	$1.6M
Revenue Bonds	sewer disinfection project	2028	$373,000

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. De Witt’s latest audit has them: Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF).

Audits⁹

The latest: Financial Statement for the period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF), released Friday, December 19, 2025, by a CPA firm.

16 earlier reports for De Witt

Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024Thursday, December 19, 2024
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2023Friday, January 12, 2024
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2022Friday, January 20, 2023
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2021Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2020Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2019Friday, December 20, 2019
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2018Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2017Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2016Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2015Monday, January 11, 2016
Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2014Friday, December 19, 2014
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2013Monday, January 13, 2014
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2012Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2011Friday, February 24, 2012
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2010Monday, January 10, 2011
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2009Monday, December 21, 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? 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: $1.0M in FY25, up 24% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 1% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$757,433	$758,789	$778,867	$783,094
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$132,081	$115,583	$233,393	$223,507

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.

$624,143

$556,974

Iowa DOT projects$510,89592%
Iowa Economic Development Authority$40,0007%
library open access$3,4911%
library enrich Iowa$2,5880%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$20,330
FY20	$308,643
FY21	$624,143
FY22	$4,509
FY23	$7,205
FY24	$224,163
FY25	$556,974

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$20,330
FY20	$308,643
FY21	$624,143
FY22	$4,509
FY23	$7,205
FY24	$224,163
FY25	$556,974

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−9%$687,526 → $783,094, up 14% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 9% less
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)+46%$121,937 → $223,507, up 83% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 46% 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 45% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 16% more.

$873,155

Federal grants, for comparison: $622,853 in FY25.

Business awards

Every award statewide

State economic development awards

Community college new jobs training: 1 contract since 2008 worth $60K, for 9 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)¹¹.

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

No local races loaded yet.

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 ballot¹².

Related places

Clinton CountyCentral Clinton schoolsCentral Dewitt 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. ↩
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. ↩
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. ↩
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”). ↩

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.

De Witt

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in De Witt

Rates over time

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $6.13 more4

Tax increment financing (TIF)

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What De Witt 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

State economic development awards

Elections

Past ballot measures

When a measure can be on the ballot

Related places

Outside the limit: $6.13 more⁴

The 5% limit⁷

Audits⁹