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
Rates over time
Per $1,000 of taxable value: the typical combined rate people in St Lucas pay, and the city government’s own piece of it.
| Year | Combined | City’s own |
|---|---|---|
| FY20 | $33.45 | $14.96 |
| FY21 | $33.59 | $15.66 |
| FY22 | – | $15.59 |
| FY23 | – | $15.87 |
| FY24 | $33.31 | $15.93 |
| FY25 | – | $13.98 |
| FY26 | – | $13.99 |
| FY27 | – | $13.39 |
Show the numbers
| Year | Combined | City’s own |
|---|---|---|
| FY20 | $33.45 | $14.96 |
| FY21 | $33.59 | $15.66 |
| FY22 | – | $15.59 |
| FY23 | – | $15.87 |
| FY24 | $33.31 | $15.93 |
| FY25 | – | $13.98 |
| FY26 | – | $13.99 |
| FY27 | – | $13.39 |
The $8.10 limit
St Lucas’s general levy is $8.03 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.07 below the limit.3 407 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.
FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.27 · FY26 $8.27 · FY27 $8.03 (before FY25, the general levy alone)
Outside the limit: $5.36 more4
- Debt Service Levy$3.19 · $18,764
- Liability, property & self insurance costs$1.92 · $11,302
- Total Employee Benefit Levies$0.17 · $979
- Support of a Local Emerg. Mgmt. Comm.$0.08 · $489
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.
Budget and spending
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.
The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($76,992 in FY26), so this total is low.
Budget compared with what it spent, FY23
| Function | Budget | Spent |
|---|---|---|
| Public Works | $53,720 | $43,140 |
| Public Safety | $91,670 | $61,070 |
| Health and Social Services | $300 | $167 |
| General Government | $35,271 | $24,382 |
| Debt Service | $43,520 | $32,169 |
| Culture and Recreation | $92,500 | $75,757 |
| Community and Economic Development | $200 | $167 |
| Capital Projects | $0 | $0 |
| Business Type / Enterprise | $56,000 | $47,113 |
What it spent each year
FY24 left out5
Debt, reserves and audits
How local debt works · What an audit tells you
What St Lucas owes
$325,804 at June 30, 2026: $1,951 per resident. 394th most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).6
| June 30 | Owed | Per resident |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $325,804 | $1,951 |
| 2025 | $359,491 | $2,153 |
| 2024 | $391,633 | $2,345 |
| 2023 | $424,137 | $2,540 |
| 2022 | $471,339 | $2,822 |
| 2021 | $538,000 | $3,222 |
| 2020 | $388,000 | $2,323 |
| 2019 | $261,000 | $1,563 |
| 2018 | $288,000 | $1,725 |
| 2017 | $314,000 | $1,880 |
| 2016 | $340,000 | $2,036 |
| 2015 | $256,000 | $1,533 |
| 2014 | $275,000 | $1,647 |
| 2013 | $294,000 | $1,760 |
| 2012 | $297,010 | $1,779 |
| 2011 | $307,868 | $1,844 |
| 2010 | $324,787 | $1,945 |
Show the numbers
| June 30 | Owed | Per resident |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $325,804 | $1,951 |
| 2025 | $359,491 | $2,153 |
| 2024 | $391,633 | $2,345 |
| 2023 | $424,137 | $2,540 |
| 2022 | $471,339 | $2,822 |
| 2021 | $538,000 | $3,222 |
| 2020 | $388,000 | $2,323 |
| 2019 | $261,000 | $1,563 |
| 2018 | $288,000 | $1,725 |
| 2017 | $314,000 | $1,880 |
| 2016 | $340,000 | $2,036 |
| 2015 | $256,000 | $1,533 |
| 2014 | $275,000 | $1,647 |
| 2013 | $294,000 | $1,760 |
| 2012 | $297,010 | $1,779 |
| 2011 | $307,868 | $1,844 |
| 2010 | $324,787 | $1,945 |
Up 0% since 2010.
4 obligations at June 30, 2026
| Kind | For | Paid off by | Owed |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Obligation | REFUNDING 2 STREET LOANS/E.MAIN & SPRING ST. | 2036 | $168,951 |
| Revenue Bonds | STORM WATER REVENUE LOAN 3.25% | 2041 | $132,853 |
| Revenue Bonds | REFINANCED SEWER CHEAPER INTEREST RATE 4.66% | 2027 | $24,000 |
| General Obligation | WEST MAIN ST. REFINANCED INTEREST RATE | 2027 | $0 |
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 balances7. St Lucas’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2020 (PDF).
Audits8
The latest: Periodic Examination for the period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2020 (PDF), released Thursday, March 25, 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? 9
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: $1,354 in FY25, down 83% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 87% less. Grants are below.
Show the numbers
| Source | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Road Use Tax (streets) | $9,823 | $11,768 | $12,227 | $1,354 |
| Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”) | – | $689 | $517 | – |
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.
| Year | Grants and projects |
|---|---|
| FY19 | $363 |
| FY20 | $0 |
| FY21 | $885 |
| FY22 | $19,030 |
| FY23 | $0 |
| FY24 | $0 |
| FY25 | $0 |
Show the numbers
| Year | Grants and projects |
|---|---|
| FY19 | $363 |
| FY20 | $0 |
| FY21 | $885 |
| FY22 | $19,030 |
| FY23 | $0 |
| FY24 | $0 |
| FY25 | $0 |
Has it kept up with prices?
Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.
- Road Use Tax (streets)−87%$8,070 → $1,354, down 83% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 87% 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 62% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 29% more.
Federal grants, for comparison: $77,640 in FY23.
Business awards
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)10.
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 ballot11.