City

Hiawatha

$2,990 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($35.54 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,160 a yearof that goes to the city ($13.78 per $1,000)

$9.6Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$25.4Mcity 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.

CJ FlynnHiawatha City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Jill WeigelHiawatha City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Robert ArchibaldHiawatha City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Aime J. WichtendahlHiawatha City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Ben FiedlerHiawatha City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Jeff CaterHiawatha City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Steve DodsonHiawatha Mayor · 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 Hiawatha

Homes and businesses in most of Hiawatha pay a combined $35.54 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Linn County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $13.78. Estimate your bill.

Cedar Rapids schools$13.9139%
City of Hiawatha$13.7839%
Linn County$6.0517%
Kirkwood Community College$1.434%
Linn County Assessor$0.31<1%
Linn County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.05<1%

Rates over time

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

CombinedCity’s own

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$37.47	$15.00
FY21	$38.11	$14.76
FY22	$37.99	$14.76
FY23	$37.00	$14.76
FY24	$37.10	$14.76
FY25	$35.47	$13.79
FY26	$35.22	$13.78
FY27	$35.54	$13.78

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$37.47	$15.00
FY21	$38.11	$14.76
FY22	$37.99	$14.76
FY23	$37.00	$14.76
FY24	$37.10	$14.76
FY25	$35.47	$13.79
FY26	$35.22	$13.78
FY27	$35.54	$13.78

Compared with places this size³

Hiawatha’s city property tax rate of $13.78 per $1,000 is the 16th lowest of 50 Iowa cities with 4,900–11,000 people. The middle of the group is $15.14.

See all 50

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Red Oak	$20.65	5,420
2	Oelwein	$20.16	5,788
3	Keokuk	$19.68	9,462
4	Independence	$19.01	6,266
5	Iowa Falls	$18.86	4,993
6	Fort Madison	$18.84	9,983
7	Denison	$18.69	8,302
8	Perry	$17.91	8,046
9	Waverly	$17.53	10,576
10	Atlantic	$17.48	6,717
11	Knoxville	$17.46	7,440
12	Clarinda	$17.25	5,334
13	Centerville	$16.85	5,345
14	Algona	$16.75	5,341
15	Fairfield	$16.69	9,511
16	Webster City	$16.51	7,763
17	Vinton	$16.25	4,962
18	Winterset	$16.15	5,421
19	Anamosa	$15.95	5,845
20	Charles City	$15.95	7,081
21	Grinnell	$15.60	9,495
22	Decorah	$15.52	7,454
23	Sheldon	$15.33	5,584
24	Estherville	$15.27	5,796
25	Washington	$15.21	7,281
26	Harlan	$15.07	4,898
27	Creston	$14.99	7,421
28	Manchester	$14.96	5,283
29	Cherokee	$14.82	5,186
30	Glenwood	$14.77	5,250
31	Nevada	$14.58	7,082
32	Osceola	$14.37	5,585
33	Windsor Heights	$14.30	5,106
34	Orange City	$14.01	6,547
35	Hiawatha	$13.78	7,347
36	Sergeant Bluff	$13.70	5,335
37	Adel	$13.43	6,763
38	Maquoketa	$12.85	6,064
39	Mount Pleasant	$11.94	8,509
40	Tiffin	$11.80	6,695
41	Carroll	$11.25	10,125
42	Le Mars	$11.18	10,674
43	Sioux Center	$11.05	8,675
44	Polk City	$11.00	6,430
45	Bondurant	$10.82	9,511
46	Pella	$10.75	10,965
47	Spirit Lake	$10.17	5,548
48	Clear Lake	$9.85	7,602
49	Asbury	$8.32	6,051
50	Eldridge	$8.13	6,967

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$5.0M53%
Debt Service Levy$2.7M28%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$1.8M19%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Hiawatha’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 49 Iowa cities closest in size (4,900–11,000 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (49)
Business Type / Enterprise	23¢	38¢
Public Safety	20¢	12¢
Capital Projects	17¢	20¢
Debt Service	15¢	6¢
General Government	7¢	5¢
Everything else	18¢	18¢

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.

Capital Projects$10.0M39%
Public Safety$5.6M22%
Debt Service$3.3M13%
General Government$2.2M9%
Public Works$1.6M6%
Culture and Recreation$1.6M6%
Community and Economic Development$1.3M5%
Health and Social Services$20,0000%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($5.7M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$1.3M	$1.4M
Public Safety	$4.6M	$4.1M
Health and Social Services	$20,000	$6,513
General Government	$1.6M	$1.7M
Debt Service	$3.5M	$3.5M
Culture and Recreation	$1.4M	$1.4M
Community and Economic Development	$2.0M	$1.2M
Capital Projects	$3.9M	$3.0M
Business Type / Enterprise	$5.0M	$4.5M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁴

$31.2M

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25

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? ⁵

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: $1.4M in FY25, up 10% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 12% less. Grants are below.

In today's dollarsActual dollars

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$988,968	$988,462	$1.0M	$1.0M
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$384,823	$307,858	$339,845	$366,868

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.

$2.0M

$606,069

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25

State grants$606,069100%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$66,523
FY20	$239,067
FY21	$2.0M
FY22	$615,599
FY23	$146,796
FY24	$120,525
FY25	$606,069

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$66,523
FY20	$239,067
FY21	$2.0M
FY22	$615,599
FY23	$146,796
FY24	$120,525
FY25	$606,069

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−10%$907,400 → $1.0M, up 12% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 10% less
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)−17%$350,823 → $366,868, up 5% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 17% 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 37% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 9% more.

$1.4M

$1.2M

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25

Federal grants, for comparison: $1.1M in FY25.

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

Ballot measures · 1

City of Hiawatha Public Measure B

Passed Yes 73.8% (869) · No 26.2% (308)

Passes with more yes votes than no.

City · 2

Hiawatha City Council At-Large

2 seats: the top 2 win.

Robert Archibald Winner82551.0%
Jill Weigel Winner79449.0%

Hiawatha City Council At-Large To Fill a Vacancy

CJ Flynn Winner12767.9%
Bill Bennett 6032.1%

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

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁶

Art Staed (Sen. 40)Aime Wichtendahl (Rep. 80)

U.S. House:District 2

Linn County Alburnett schools Cedar Rapids 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. ↩
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 Hiawatha; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Hiawatha 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.

Hiawatha

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Hiawatha

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Hiawatha’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 Congress6

Compared with places this size³

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁶