City

Jewell

$3,310 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($39.36 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,280 a yearof that goes to the city ($15.17 per $1,000)

$757,287property taxes the city levies, FY27

$1.2Mcity 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.

Aaron BoorJewell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Karl CorbinJewell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Mickey WalkerJewell Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Stacy AlsagerJewell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Scott RohloffJewell City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Steven J. ButlerJewell 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 Jewell

Homes and businesses in most of Jewell pay a combined $39.36 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Hamilton County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $15.17. Estimate your bill.

City of Jewell$15.1739%
South Hamilton schools$13.6035%
Hamilton County$6.0315%
Hamilton County Hospital$1.905%
Iowa Central Community College$1.574%
Hamilton County Assessor$0.672%
Hamilton County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.21<1%
Lyon-Jewell Cemetery$0.20<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$34.91	$10.17
FY21	$35.02	$10.05
FY22	$29.84	$10.11
FY23	$29.71	$10.61
FY24	$35.36	$10.65
FY25	$30.65	$12.58
FY26	$38.25	$13.47
FY27	$39.36	$15.17

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$34.91	$10.17
FY21	$35.02	$10.05
FY22	$29.84	$10.11
FY23	$29.71	$10.61
FY24	$35.36	$10.65
FY25	$30.65	$12.58
FY26	$38.25	$13.47
FY27	$39.36	$15.17

The $8.10 limit

Jewell’s general levy is $8.31 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.21 above the limit; it has to come down in steps.³ 87 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.39 · FY26 $8.31 · FY27 $8.31 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $6.86 more⁴

Total Employee Benefit Levies$2.90 · $143,140
Liability, property & self insurance costs$2.25 · $111,060
Debt Service Levy$1.72 · $85,112

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$410,53955%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$143,14019%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$111,06015%
Debt Service Levy$85,11211%

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.

Public Works$410,85633%
Public Safety$338,49927%
General Government$210,34417%
Culture and Recreation$180,55514%
Debt Service$87,3647%
Community and Economic Development$17,9751%
Health and Social Services$3,6950%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($521,376 in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$164,456	$193,166
Public Safety	$338,174	$343,622
Health and Social Services	$4,275	$1,775
General Government	$100,320	$120,383
Debt Service	$0	$0
Culture and Recreation	$144,721	$166,062
Community and Economic Development	$42,700	$37,914
Capital Projects	$0	$28,200
Business Type / Enterprise	$487,715	$523,129

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁵

$3.1M

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Jewell owes

$1.9M at June 30, 2026: $1,569 per resident. 447th most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁶

$2.2M

$1.9M

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$1.9M	$1,569
2025	$2.0M	$1,671
2024	$2.2M	$1,802
2023	$1.3M	$1,080
2022	$1.4M	$1,174
2021	$1.5M	$1,265
2020	$1.8M	$1,467
2019	$1.8M	$1,442
2018	$1.5M	$1,193
2017	$331,000	$272
2016	$367,000	$302
2015	$402,000	$331
2014	$436,000	$359
2013	$469,000	$386
2012	$500,000	$411
2011	$532,875	$438
2010	$569,893	$469

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$1.9M	$1,569
2025	$2.0M	$1,671
2024	$2.2M	$1,802
2023	$1.3M	$1,080
2022	$1.4M	$1,174
2021	$1.5M	$1,265
2020	$1.8M	$1,467
2019	$1.8M	$1,442
2018	$1.5M	$1,193
2017	$331,000	$272
2016	$367,000	$302
2015	$402,000	$331
2014	$436,000	$359
2013	$469,000	$386
2012	$500,000	$411
2011	$532,875	$438
2010	$569,893	$469

Up 235% since 2010.

The 5% limit⁷

General obligation debt is $905,000, 19% of the limit of about $4.8M (5% of $96.9M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

2 obligations at June 30, 2026

Kind	For	Paid off by	Owed
Revenue Bonds	Water Plant Improvement Project	2038	$1.0M
General Obligation	Main Street Project for water mains, sidewalks and lights	2039	$905,000

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. Jewell’s latest audit has them: Annual Examination, period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF).

Audits⁹

The latest: Annual Examination for the period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF), released Thursday, March 26, 2026, by a CPA firm.

10 earlier reports for Jewell

Annual Examination, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Annual Examination, period ending Friday, June 30, 2023Thursday, February 29, 2024
Annual Examination, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2022Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Annual Examination, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2021Thursday, November 4, 2021
Annual Examination, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2020Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Annual Examination, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2019Thursday, December 19, 2019
Annual Examination, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2018Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Periodic Examination, period ending Thursday, March 31, 2016Monday, August 1, 2016
Annual Examination, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2013Friday, March 28, 2014
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2009Wednesday, March 31, 2010

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: $176,705 in FY25, up 8% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 14% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$168,067	$167,335	$171,763	$172,695
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$6,415	$5,614	$4,812	$4,010

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.

$27,070

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$6,412
FY20	$0
FY21	$27,070
FY22	$0
FY23	$0
FY24	$0
FY25	$0

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$6,412
FY20	$0
FY21	$27,070
FY22	$0
FY23	$0
FY24	$0
FY25	$0

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−12%$156,961 → $172,695, up 10% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 12% less
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)−46%$5,967 → $4,010, down 33% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 46% 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 52% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 22% more.

$189,024

$181,515

Federal grants, for comparison: $85,153 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

Jewell City Council At-Large

3 seats: the top 3 win.

Aaron Boor Winner16927.9%
Stacy Alsager Winner16326.9%
Karl Corbin Winner14423.8%
Jennifer Nobiling 13021.4%

Jewell Mayor

Mickey Walker Unopposed204100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Jewell; 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.

Jewell City Council At-Large (2 seats)
Now held by Scott Rohloff, Steven J. Butler
Jewell Mayor
Now held by Mickey Walker

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

Hamilton County South Hamilton 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. ↩
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”). ↩

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.

Jewell

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Jewell

Rates over time

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $6.86 more4

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Jewell 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

Outside the limit: $6.86 more⁴

The 5% limit⁷

Audits⁹