City

Rome

$2,860 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($33.91 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$680 a yearof that goes to the city ($8.10 per $1,000)

$11,131property taxes the city levies, FY27

$64,725city 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.

Ashley SchultzRome City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Clayton SammonsRome City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Jeremy LanfermanRome Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
John AndersonRome City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Lester GarrisonRome City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Sandy JohnsonRome City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Debra SammonsRome 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 Rome

Homes and businesses in most of Rome pay a combined $33.91 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Henry County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $8.10. Estimate your bill.

Mount Pleasant schools$11.8935%
Henry County$9.1927%
City of Rome$8.1024%
Henry County Soldiers And Sailors Memorial Hospital$2.287%
Southeastern Community College$1.585%
Henry County Assessor$0.582%
Henry County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.28<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$33.69	$8.10
FY21	$34.89	$8.10
FY22	$34.96	$8.10
FY23	$35.17	$8.10
FY24	$34.79	$8.10
FY25	$33.31	$7.86
FY26	$34.69	$8.10
FY27	$33.91	$8.10

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$33.69	$8.10
FY21	$34.89	$8.10
FY22	$34.96	$8.10
FY23	$35.17	$8.10
FY24	$34.79	$8.10
FY25	$33.31	$7.86
FY26	$34.69	$8.10
FY27	$33.91	$8.10

Compared with places this size³

Rome’s city property tax rate of $8.10 per $1,000 is the 50th lowest of 139 Iowa cities with 80–170 people. The middle of the group is $9.61.

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	Aurora	$12.40	165
38	Bridgewater	$12.29	145
39	Arion	$12.14	99
40	Webb	$12.10	139
41	Shambaugh	$11.98	161
42	Lone Rock	$11.92	143
43	East Peru	$11.89	119
44	Henderson	$11.85	140
45	Reasnor	$11.76	157
46	Morley	$11.74	94
47	Ledyard	$11.74	118
48	Toronto	$11.68	101
49	Exline	$11.60	157
50	Beaman	$11.54	155
51	Melrose	$11.27	110
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	Alexander	$10.90	165
59	Wallingford	$10.75	154
60	Pacific Junction	$10.56	99
61	Barnes City	$10.44	152
62	Bradgate	$10.37	76
63	Randall	$10.35	156
64	North Washington	$10.23	107
65	Dawson	$10.19	110
66	Hartwick	$9.90	91
67	Clare	$9.81	133
68	Tingley	$9.81	146
69	Rutland	$9.65	116
70	Rock Falls	$9.61	143
71	Kirkville	$9.59	159
72	Superior	$9.58	127
73	Webster	$9.55	94
74	Martinsburg	$9.49	109
75	Larrabee	$9.41	116
76	Hamilton	$9.35	125
77	Wiota	$9.32	91
78	Floris	$9.29	119
79	Mitchell	$9.22	118
80	Westphalia	$9.18	133
81	Prairieburg	$8.91	156
82	Welton	$8.86	124
83	Archer	$8.84	116
84	Luther	$8.83	147
85	Fraser	$8.81	107
86	Macksburg	$8.81	103
87	Pilot Mound	$8.54	155
88	Andover	$8.28	106
89	Thurman	$8.26	162
90	Rome	$8.10	112
91	Carpenter	$8.10	92
92	Chillicothe	$8.10	79
93	Scarville	$8.10	75
94	Westfield	$8.10	121
95	Vincent	$8.09	125
96	Buckeye	$7.94	82
97	Morrison	$7.86	101
98	Mount Auburn	$7.86	162
99	Haverhill	$7.86	164
100	Oyens	$7.86	88
101	Castalia	$7.86	141
102	Dickens	$7.86	146
103	Ralston	$7.86	76
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	Lidderdale	$7.68	162
111	Westwood	$7.67	96
112	Kinross	$7.57	80
113	Bernard	$7.56	117
114	Braddyville	$7.49	142
115	Garber	$7.35	76
116	Franklin	$7.31	133
117	Spragueville	$7.20	92
118	Weldon	$7.18	134
119	Craig	$7.01	78
120	Brunsville	$6.95	128
121	Zwingle	$6.93	86
122	Pleasant Plain	$6.79	83
123	Houghton	$6.73	129
124	Williamson	$6.72	126
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

Rome’s general levy is $8.10 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, at the limit.⁴ 247 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $7.86 · FY26 $8.10 · FY27 $8.10 (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$11,066100%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Rome’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 (80–170 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (140)
Business Type / Enterprise	47¢	23¢
Public Works	32¢	28¢
General Government	18¢	26¢
Community and Economic Development	3¢	2¢
Culture and Recreation	<1¢	7¢

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.

General Government$29,30045%
Public Works$27,85043%
Community and Economic Development$4,2006%
Public Safety$3,0005%
Culture and Recreation$3751%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($57,000 in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$21,300	$15,453
Public Safety	$0	$0
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$24,750	$23,648
Debt Service	$0	$0
Culture and Recreation	$175	$0
Community and Economic Development	$3,000	$2,580
Capital Projects	$0	$0
Business Type / Enterprise	$52,450	$55,924

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁵

$111,198

$86,490

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Rome owes

No debt at June 30, 2026.⁶

$90,592

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$0	$0
2025	$0	$0
2024	$0	$0
2023	$51,612	$453
2022	$59,038	$518
2021	$63,734	$559
2020	$63,734	$559
2019	$68,095	$597
2018	$72,679	$638
2017	$76,530	$671
2016	$80,352	$705
2015	$84,012	$737
2014	$87,243	$765
2013	$90,592	$795
2012	$0	$0
2011	$0	$0
2010	$0	$0

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$0	$0
2025	$0	$0
2024	$0	$0
2023	$51,612	$453
2022	$59,038	$518
2021	$63,734	$559
2020	$63,734	$559
2019	$68,095	$597
2018	$72,679	$638
2017	$76,530	$671
2016	$80,352	$705
2015	$84,012	$737
2014	$87,243	$765
2013	$90,592	$795
2012	$0	$0
2011	$0	$0
2010	$0	$0

Down 100% since 2013.

The 5% limit⁷

General obligation debt is $0, 0% of the limit of about $136,726 (5% of $2.7M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances⁸. Rome’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination, period ending Wednesday, December 31, 2025 (PDF).

Audits⁹

The latest: Periodic Examination for the period ending Wednesday, December 31, 2025 (PDF), released Monday, October 5, 2026, by the Auditor of State.

The report has no Schedule of Findings Iowa Funnel could read.

1 earlier report for Rome

Periodic Examination, period ending Sunday, December 31, 2017Monday, June 4, 2018

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: $10,848 in FY25, up 5% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 16% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$10,780	$10,525	$10,790	$10,848

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−16%$10,291 → $10,848, up 5% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 16% 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 39% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 11% more.

$13,639

Federal grants, for comparison: $8,672 in FY23.

Business awards

Every award 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.

Most recent: November 4, 2025

City · 2

Rome City Council At-Large

5 seats: the top 5 win.

Lester Garrison Winner620.7%
John Anderson Winner620.7%
Clayton Sammons Winner620.7%
Sandy Johnson Winner620.7%
Ashley Schultz Winner517.2%

Rome Mayor

Jeremy Lanferman Unopposed6100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Rome; 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.

Rome City Council At-Large (5 seats)
Now held by Lester Garrison, Clayton Sammons, Sandy Johnson, Debra Sammons, John Anderson
Rome Mayor
Now held by Jeremy Lanferman

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

Adrian Dickey (Sen. 44)Jeff Shipley (Rep. 87)

U.S. House:District 1

Henry County Mount Pleasant 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 Rome; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Rome 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.

Rome

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Rome

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Rome’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Rome owes

The 5% limit7

Money in reserve

Audits9

State money

What the state pays the city every year

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