City

Panora

$3,130 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($37.11 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,360 a yearof that goes to the city ($16.14 per $1,000)

$767,183property taxes the city levies, FY27

$1.8Mcity 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.

Blake MichelsenPanora City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Brian DorsettPanora City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Roger L DorrPanora City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Curt ThornberryPanora Mayor · elected November 7, 2023
Mark SheederPanora City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Tom FlaneryPanora 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

Where a property tax dollar goes in Panora

The combined rate in most of Panora is $37.11 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). The city sets only its own piece. Estimate your bill.

City of Panora$16.1444%
Panorama schools$10.1027%
Guthrie County$6.2417%
Guthrie County Hospital$2.707%
Des Moines Area Community. College$0.812%
Guthrie County Assessor$0.652%
Guthrie County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.25<1%
Cass-Panora-Yale Cemetery$0.22<1%

Compared with places this size³

Panora’s city property tax rate of $16.14 per $1,000 is the 31st highest of 154 Iowa cities with 730–1,600 people. The middle of the group is $13.30.

See all 154

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Elkader	$27.11	1,192
2	Exira	$24.81	766
3	Laurens	$24.16	1,253
4	Dayton	$22.51	766
5	Correctionville	$19.84	759
6	Villisca	$19.74	1,106
7	Traer	$19.56	1,547
8	Corning	$19.36	1,509
9	Allison	$19.06	937
10	Corydon	$18.22	1,563
11	Dysart	$17.95	1,266
12	Greene	$17.91	971
13	Alden	$17.90	738
14	Lansing	$17.67	959
15	Strawberry Point	$17.58	1,141
16	Rockwell	$17.54	1,044
17	Gowrie	$17.17	943
18	Colo	$17.14	856
19	Mapleton	$16.90	1,114
20	George	$16.89	1,106
21	Fayette	$16.85	1,193
22	Adair	$16.84	792
23	Eddyville	$16.82	965
24	Nashua	$16.81	1,515
25	Ackley	$16.63	1,538
26	Buffalo Center	$16.58	839
27	Roland	$16.51	1,376
28	Eldon	$16.42	788
29	Monona	$16.41	1,462
30	Aplington	$16.34	1,088
31	Panora	$16.14	1,096
32	Mechanicsville	$16.12	974
33	Dike	$15.94	1,293
34	Armstrong	$15.87	847
35	Holstein	$15.81	1,475
36	State Center	$15.80	1,403
37	Earlham	$15.55	1,411
38	Shell Rock	$15.52	1,265
39	Brooklyn	$15.49	1,474
40	Newell	$15.49	850
41	Mount Ayr	$15.32	1,616
42	Riceville	$15.31	807
43	Neola	$15.30	917
44	Sidney	$15.19	1,048
45	Gilbertville	$15.15	792
46	Logan	$15.05	1,351
47	Griswold	$15.01	975
48	Readlyn	$14.99	857
49	Tripoli	$14.99	1,208
50	Bedford	$14.66	1,474
51	Lenox	$14.65	1,355
52	Manning	$14.62	1,390
53	Dunlap	$14.56	1,030
54	Garnavillo	$14.52	751
55	Maxwell	$14.50	862
56	Coon Rapids	$14.49	1,258
57	Nora Springs	$14.25	1,330
58	Kingsley	$14.25	1,394
59	Urbana	$14.20	1,635
60	Primghar	$14.18	893
61	Sheffield	$14.16	1,123
62	Hartley	$14.11	1,584
63	Woodward	$14.05	1,383
64	Guthrie Center	$14.04	1,579
65	Ossian	$13.88	777
66	Alton	$13.87	1,248
67	Montezuma	$13.79	1,421
68	Victor	$13.72	852
69	Gilbert	$13.71	1,397
70	Edgewood	$13.64	908
71	Donnellson	$13.63	859
72	Gladbrook	$13.58	775
73	Clarksville	$13.53	1,238
74	Janesville	$13.43	1,052
75	Glidden	$13.43	1,140
76	Calmar	$13.39	1,100
77	Baxter	$13.32	983
78	Manly	$13.29	1,233
79	Anita	$13.28	953
80	Van Horne	$13.27	768
81	Conrad	$13.23	1,098
82	Springville	$13.22	1,161
83	Keota	$13.21	888
84	Shellsburg	$13.20	987
85	De Soto	$13.18	937
86	Treynor	$13.03	1,104
87	Odebolt	$13.00	967
88	Akron	$12.93	1,545
89	Danville	$12.87	910
90	Underwood	$12.85	973
91	New Sharon	$12.80	1,249
92	Slater	$12.79	1,626
93	Malvern	$12.79	1,056
94	Montrose	$12.78	734
95	Buffalo	$12.68	1,163
96	Sanborn	$12.62	1,463
97	West Point	$12.39	903
98	Hinton	$12.38	959
99	Preston	$12.38	940
100	Hubbard	$12.30	837
101	Carson	$12.22	772
102	Wheatland	$12.18	765
103	Winfield	$12.04	1,006
104	Elkhart	$12.00	1,079
105	Afton	$11.96	864
106	Lowden	$11.93	767
107	Tabor	$11.88	983
108	Wellman	$11.88	1,531
109	Aurelia	$11.84	970
110	Palo	$11.49	1,554
111	Wall Lake	$11.43	739
112	West Bend	$11.42	770
113	Dakota City	$11.39	764
114	Marcus	$11.31	1,069
115	Dunkerton	$11.30	840
116	Melcher-Dallas	$11.21	1,193
117	University Heights	$11.12	1,188
118	Manilla	$11.01	756
119	Hamburg	$10.95	863
120	Clarence	$10.94	991
121	Oakland	$10.85	1,519
122	Cambridge	$10.53	844
123	Swisher	$10.39	909
124	Schleswig	$10.39	820
125	Melbourne	$10.38	771
126	Elk Run Heights	$10.33	1,061
127	Walcott	$10.29	1,556
128	Fredericksburg	$10.27	983
129	Lake Park	$10.25	1,155
130	Inwood	$10.22	962
131	Milo	$10.20	762
132	Central City	$10.01	1,254
133	Newhall	$9.99	887
134	Graettinger	$9.81	810
135	Long Grove	$9.59	849
136	Lake View	$9.39	1,120
137	Paullina	$9.21	979
138	Fairbank	$9.00	1,133
139	Winthrop	$8.94	814
140	Walford	$8.72	1,357
141	Keosauqua	$8.58	944
142	Princeton	$8.24	917
143	Lone Tree	$8.13	1,341
144	Riverside	$8.02	1,063
145	Hills	$7.94	911
146	Larchwood	$7.52	954
147	North English	$7.49	1,030
148	Sloan	$7.49	1,078
149	Sully	$7.41	891
150	Fruitland	$7.21	928
151	Lawton	$7.10	949
152	Wayland	$7.07	935
153	Raymond	$6.85	754
154	Arnolds Park	$4.95	1,214

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$360,93847%
Debt Service Levy$217,66628%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$129,30517%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$50,7277%
Aviation Authority (under sec.330A.15)$6,3861%

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Panora’s budget goes, FY26

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (153)
Business Type / Enterprise	70¢	40¢
Public Safety	7¢	9¢
Debt Service	7¢	6¢
Capital Projects	4¢	10¢
Public Works	4¢	14¢
Everything else	9¢	20¢

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 153 Iowa cities closest in size (730–1,600 people).

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 Safety$404,77522%
Capital Projects$376,00020%
Debt Service$362,43020%
Public Works$212,96012%
Culture and Recreation$196,01211%
Community and Economic Development$147,0008%
General Government$143,5928%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($3.7M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$184,882	$171,891
Public Safety	$325,850	$300,520
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$104,100	$190,576
Debt Service	$374,828	$391,728
Culture and Recreation	$186,540	$161,820
Community and Economic Development	$35,400	$31,405
Capital Projects	$2.0M	$1.2M
Business Type / Enterprise	$3.1M	$3.2M

What it spent each year

$5.7M

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23

State money

What the state sends the city

Sales tax and property tax credits the state paid the city: up 13% since FY23; up 3% after inflation.

In today's dollarsActual dollars

Show the numbers

Program	FY27	FY26	FY25	FY24	FY23
Local option sales tax	$12,724	$151,461	$146,119	$136,302	$134,581

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

City · 1

Panora City Council At-Large

3 seats: the top 3 win.

Roger L Dorr Winner21934.7%
Brian Dorsett Winner21333.8%
Blake Michelsen Winner19931.5%

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

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁴

Jesse Green (Sen. 24)Carter F. Nordman (Rep. 47)

U.S. House:District 3

Guthrie County Panorama 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. ↩
Legislative and congressional districts that cover Panora; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Panora 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.