City

Monticello

$3,250 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($38.57 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,220 a yearof that goes to the city ($14.49 per $1,000)

$2.4Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$8.6Mcity 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.

Candy LangermanMonticello City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
David GoedkenMonticello City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Jake EllwoodMonticello Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Joshua BrennemanMonticello City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Jacob D. EllwoodMonticello City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Mary PhelanMonticello City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Scott BrightonMonticello 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 Monticello

Homes and businesses in most of Monticello pay a combined $38.57 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Jones County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $14.49. Estimate your bill.

Monticello schools$15.7341%
City of Monticello$14.4938%
Jones County$6.2016%
Kirkwood Community College$1.434%
Jones County Assessor$0.521%
Jones County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.21<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$35.94	$13.87
FY21	$35.82	$13.87
FY22	$35.65	$13.87
FY23	$35.53	$13.87
FY24	$39.02	$15.80
FY25	$38.54	$15.22
FY26	$39.38	$15.22
FY27	$38.57	$14.49

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$35.94	$13.87
FY21	$35.82	$13.87
FY22	$35.65	$13.87
FY23	$35.53	$13.87
FY24	$39.02	$15.80
FY25	$38.54	$15.22
FY26	$39.38	$15.22
FY27	$38.57	$14.49

Compared with places this size³

Monticello’s city property tax rate of $14.49 per $1,000 is the 31st lowest of 65 Iowa cities with 2,800–6,100 people. The middle of the group is $14.77.

See all 65

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Red Oak	$20.65	5,420
2	Bloomfield	$20.41	2,773
3	Oelwein	$20.16	5,788
4	Sibley	$19.77	2,787
5	Albia	$19.70	3,579
6	Eagle Grove	$19.32	3,615
7	Iowa Falls	$18.86	4,993
8	West Liberty	$18.68	3,724
9	Chariton	$18.37	4,278
10	Tama	$17.74	2,997
11	Clarion	$17.74	2,751
12	Clarinda	$17.25	5,334
13	Madrid	$16.93	2,824
14	Centerville	$16.85	5,345
15	Algona	$16.75	5,341
16	Grundy Center	$16.36	2,821
17	Vinton	$16.25	4,962
18	Winterset	$16.15	5,421
19	Cresco	$16.13	3,890
20	Humboldt	$16.00	4,774
21	Anamosa	$15.95	5,845
22	Forest City	$15.77	4,199
23	Tipton	$15.54	3,059
24	Sheldon	$15.33	5,584
25	Estherville	$15.27	5,796
26	Harlan	$15.07	4,898
27	Shenandoah	$15.02	4,878
28	Manchester	$14.96	5,283
29	Jefferson	$14.88	4,148
30	Hampton	$14.86	4,340
31	Carlisle	$14.82	4,381
32	Cherokee	$14.82	5,186
33	Glenwood	$14.77	5,250
34	Waukon	$14.76	3,799
35	Monticello	$14.49	4,095
36	Osceola	$14.37	5,585
37	Windsor Heights	$14.30	5,106
38	Osage	$14.29	3,559
39	Rock Valley	$13.76	4,024
40	Sergeant Bluff	$13.70	5,335
41	Emmetsburg	$13.70	3,632
42	Wilton	$13.62	2,914
43	Mount Vernon	$13.50	4,518
44	New Hampton	$13.44	3,433
45	Hudson	$13.19	2,916
46	Garner	$12.86	3,049
47	Maquoketa	$12.85	6,064
48	Camanche	$12.75	4,536
49	Le Claire	$12.64	4,776
50	Milford	$12.57	3,258
51	Onawa	$12.32	2,795
52	Huxley	$11.68	4,737
53	West Branch	$11.63	2,876
54	Solon	$11.53	3,284
55	Williamsburg	$11.11	3,380
56	Carter Lake	$10.67	3,752
57	Story City	$10.39	3,439
58	Kalona	$10.37	2,762
59	Dyersville	$10.27	4,559
60	Spirit Lake	$10.17	5,548
61	West Burlington	$10.15	3,249
62	Robins	$9.68	3,362
63	Asbury	$8.32	6,051
64	Fairfax	$8.10	2,937
65	Evansdale	$8.00	4,515

The $8.10 limit

Monticello’s general levy is $7.86 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.24 below the limit.⁴ 647 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $7.94 · FY26 $8.10 · FY27 $7.86 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $6.62 more⁵

Total Employee Benefit Levies$3.74 · $594,875
Debt Service Levy$2.04 · $379,490
Liability, property & self insurance costs$0.84 · $133,861

Tax increment financing (TIF)

$26.5M of taxable value in Monticello is in TIF districts’ increment (14% of the city’s taxable value), 2025 valuations, taxed in FY27.⁶ It budgeted $650,000 in TIF revenue for FY25.

$714,143

$500,185

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$662,083
FY17	$687,017
FY18	$677,167
FY19	$701,595
FY20	$237,047
FY21	$589,831
FY22	$714,143
FY23	$500,185

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$662,083
FY17	$687,017
FY18	$677,167
FY19	$701,595
FY20	$237,047
FY21	$589,831
FY22	$714,143
FY23	$500,185

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$1.3M53%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$594,87525%
Debt Service Levy$379,49016%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$133,8616%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Monticello’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 64 Iowa cities closest in size (2,800–6,100 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (64)
Business Type / Enterprise	83¢	37¢
Public Safety	4¢	13¢
Capital Projects	3¢	16¢
Culture and Recreation	2¢	8¢
Public Works	2¢	9¢
Everything else	5¢	16¢

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$2.6M30%
Capital Projects$1.3M15%
Culture and Recreation$1.2M14%
Debt Service$1.1M13%
Public Works$1.0M12%
General Government$871,62110%
Community and Economic Development$499,6486%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($39.2M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$879,402	$958,478
Public Safety	$1.6M	$1.6M
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$646,818	$672,558
Debt Service	$641,336	$641,233
Culture and Recreation	$891,210	$811,914
Community and Economic Development	$215,614	$179,953
Capital Projects	$940,750	$607,106
Business Type / Enterprise	$3.8M	$1.5M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁷

$21.7M

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? ⁸

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: $773,440 in FY25, up 39% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 11% more. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$552,380	$556,961	$572,073	$575,369
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$61,029	$53,401	$166,177	$198,071

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.

$114,526

$77,019

Iowa DOT projects$73,76996%
State grants$3,2504%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$48,283
FY20	$14,371
FY21	$7,563
FY22	$104,287
FY23	$114,526
FY24	$32,354
FY25	$77,019

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$48,283
FY20	$14,371
FY21	$7,563
FY22	$104,287
FY23	$114,526
FY24	$32,354
FY25	$77,019

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−6%$490,389 → $575,369, up 17% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 6% less
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)+146%$64,137 → $198,071, up 209% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 146% 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 58% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 26% more.

$555,668

$507,513

Federal grants, for comparison: $82,423 in FY25.

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

City · 2

Monticello City Council At-Large

3 seats: the top 3 win.

Joshua Brenneman Winner27126.1%
Candy Langerman Winner22721.9%
David Goedken Winner21921.1%
Ben Duehr 20619.9%
Brenda M. Hanken 11511.1%

Monticello Mayor

Jake Ellwood Unopposed338100.0%

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

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁹

Carrie Koelker (Sen. 33)Dr. Steven P. Bradley (Rep. 66)

U.S. House:District 1

Jones County Monticello 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. ↩
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. ↩
Tax increment financing: when a city sets up a TIF district, the taxable value there is frozen at a “base”. Taxes on the base go to every government as usual; taxes on the growth in value since (the “increment”) go to the city’s TIF fund to pay for the project, such as roads, utilities or a developer rebate, until the district ends. From the state’s valuation file (Iowa Data Hub), valuation year 2025. ↩
The state’s FY24 spending file repeats the year before for nearly every Iowa city, so that year isn’t shown. ↩
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. ↩
Legislative and congressional districts that cover Monticello; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Monticello 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.

Monticello

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Monticello

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $6.62 more5

Tax increment financing (TIF)

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Monticello’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

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

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress9

Compared with places this size³

Outside the limit: $6.62 more⁵

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁹