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 Paul pay, and the city government’s own piece of it.
| Year | Combined | City’s own |
|---|---|---|
| FY20 | – | $2.51 |
| FY21 | – | $2.42 |
| FY22 | – | $2.15 |
| FY23 | – | $2.15 |
| FY24 | $27.34 | $2.25 |
| FY25 | – | $2.18 |
| FY26 | – | $2.14 |
| FY27 | – | $2.08 |
Show the numbers
| Year | Combined | City’s own |
|---|---|---|
| FY20 | – | $2.51 |
| FY21 | – | $2.42 |
| FY22 | – | $2.15 |
| FY23 | – | $2.15 |
| FY24 | $27.34 | $2.25 |
| FY25 | – | $2.18 |
| FY26 | – | $2.14 |
| FY27 | – | $2.08 |
The $8.10 limit
St Paul’s general levy is $2.08 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $6.02 below the limit.3 929 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.
FY23 $2.15 · FY24 $2.25 · FY25 $2.18 · FY26 $2.14 · FY27 $2.08 (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.
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 ($16,900 in FY26), so this total is low.
Budget compared with what it spent, FY23
| Function | Budget | Spent |
|---|---|---|
| Public Works | $8,700 | $2,246 |
| Public Safety | $2,572 | $2,452 |
| Health and Social Services | $0 | $0 |
| General Government | $10,760 | $9,271 |
| Debt Service | $0 | $0 |
| Culture and Recreation | $3,350 | $3,265 |
| Community and Economic Development | $250 | $29 |
| Capital Projects | $0 | $0 |
| Business Type / Enterprise | $25,312 | $14,836 |
What it spent each year
FY24 left out4
Debt, reserves and audits
How local debt works · What an audit tells you
What St Paul owes
No debt at June 30, 2026.5
| June 30 | Owed | Per resident |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $0 | $0 |
| 2025 | $0 | $0 |
| 2024 | $0 | $0 |
| 2023 | $0 | $0 |
| 2022 | $0 | $0 |
| 2021 | $0 | $0 |
| 2020 | $0 | $0 |
| 2019 | $0 | $0 |
| 2018 | $0 | $0 |
| 2017 | $0 | $0 |
| 2016 | $0 | $0 |
| 2015 | $87,224 | $800 |
| 2014 | $104,265 | $957 |
| 2013 | $174,090 | $1,597 |
| 2012 | $192,598 | $1,767 |
| 2011 | $195,811 | $1,796 |
| 2010 | $198,885 | $1,825 |
Show the numbers
| June 30 | Owed | Per resident |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $0 | $0 |
| 2025 | $0 | $0 |
| 2024 | $0 | $0 |
| 2023 | $0 | $0 |
| 2022 | $0 | $0 |
| 2021 | $0 | $0 |
| 2020 | $0 | $0 |
| 2019 | $0 | $0 |
| 2018 | $0 | $0 |
| 2017 | $0 | $0 |
| 2016 | $0 | $0 |
| 2015 | $87,224 | $800 |
| 2014 | $104,265 | $957 |
| 2013 | $174,090 | $1,597 |
| 2012 | $192,598 | $1,767 |
| 2011 | $195,811 | $1,796 |
| 2010 | $198,885 | $1,825 |
Down 100% since 2010.
Money in reserve
The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances6. St Paul’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024 (PDF).
Audits7
The latest: Periodic Examination for the period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024 (PDF), released Thursday, February 13, 2025, by the Auditor of State.
1 earlier report for St Paul
- Periodic Examination, period ending Friday, March 31, 2017Monday, November 13, 2017
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: $3,951 in FY25, down 1% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 21% less. Grants are below.
Show the numbers
| Source | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Road Use Tax (streets) | $3,708 | $3,598 | $3,604 | $3,951 |
Has it kept up with prices?
Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.
- Road Use Tax (streets)−21%$4,010 → $3,951, down 1% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 21% 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 35% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 8% more.
Federal grants, for comparison: $9,270 in FY23.
Business awards
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)9.
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 ballot10.