City

Cotter

$2,360 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($27.99 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$650 a yearof that goes to the city ($7.73 per $1,000)

$5,818property taxes the city levies, FY27

$7,575city budget, all funds, FY27²

Who runs it

The city council passes ordinances, adopts the budget and sets the city’s property tax.

Betty PhillipsCotter City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Britton NobleCotter City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Mark JayCotter Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Thad FultonCotter City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Dwight BrittonCotter 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 Cotter

Homes and businesses in most of Cotter pay a combined $27.99 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Louisa County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $7.73. Estimate your bill.

Columbus schools$9.9636%
Louisa County$7.8028%
City of Cotter$7.7328%
Eastern Iowa Community College$1.044%
Columbus Benefited Fire District$0.512%
Louisa County Assessor$0.422%
Louisa County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.301%
Colcity-Coljct-Cotter-Col City Cem$0.22<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$29.81	$7.44
FY21	$28.39	$7.55
FY22	$28.31	$7.55
FY23	$27.20	$7.40
FY24	$27.76	$7.55
FY25	$28.20	$7.52
FY26	$28.18	$7.52
FY27	$27.99	$7.73

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$29.81	$7.44
FY21	$28.39	$7.55
FY22	$28.31	$7.55
FY23	$27.20	$7.40
FY24	$27.76	$7.55
FY25	$28.20	$7.52
FY26	$28.18	$7.52
FY27	$27.99	$7.73

Compared with places this size³

Cotter’s city property tax rate of $7.73 per $1,000 is the 15th lowest of 46 Iowa cities with 30–60 people. The middle of the group is $8.62.

See all 46

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Vining	$16.97	53
2	Northboro	$15.81	52
3	Benton	$15.12	40
4	Yorktown	$14.48	60
5	Gillett Grove	$14.27	31
6	Jolley	$13.34	28
7	Rodman	$13.31	28
8	Rodney	$13.04	43
9	Rinard	$12.56	38
10	Aredale	$12.19	59
11	Colwell	$12.14	52
12	Hayesville	$11.13	43
13	Plover	$11.10	52
14	Curlew	$10.85	38
15	Dana	$10.85	34
16	Owasa	$10.58	30
17	Guernsey	$10.13	59
18	Rathbun	$9.96	44
19	Kirkman	$9.44	60
20	Ottosen	$9.10	41
21	Imogene	$9.10	37
22	Buck Grove	$9.08	31
23	Carbon	$8.78	32
24	Aspinwall	$8.45	35
25	Knierim	$8.13	53
26	Elkport	$8.10	29
27	Valeria	$8.10	41
28	Coppock	$7.94	35
29	Marysville	$7.89	46
30	Bassett	$7.86	42
31	Millerton	$7.86	37
32	Cotter	$7.73	40
33	Thornburg	$7.57	46
34	Blanchard	$7.52	29
35	Thayer	$7.39	48
36	Udell	$6.85	31
37	Pleasanton	$6.65	32
38	Rossie	$6.32	46
39	Sandyville	$6.06	59
40	Clayton	$5.08	45
41	Plano	$4.66	57
42	Hardy	$4.36	55
43	Jackson Junction	$3.66	38
44	Beaver	$2.71	46
45	Osterdock	$2.44	45
46	Gibson	$1.88	58

The $8.10 limit

Cotter’s general levy is $6.93 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $1.17 below the limit.⁴ 851 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $7.40 · FY24 $7.55 · FY25 $6.84 · FY26 $6.86 · FY27 $6.93 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $0.80 more⁵

Liability, property & self insurance costs$0.80 · $590

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$5,11190%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$59010%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Cotter’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 46 Iowa cities closest in size (30–60 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (46)
General Government	60¢	39¢
Public Works	25¢	40¢
Culture and Recreation	15¢	6¢
Community and Economic Development	1¢	2¢

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$3,97052%
Public Works$2,29530%
Culture and Recreation$1,26017%
Community and Economic Development$501%

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$2,440	$20,761
Public Safety	$0	$0
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$3,800	$4,161
Debt Service	$0	$0
Culture and Recreation	$1,060	$1,260
Community and Economic Development	$50	$0
Capital Projects	$0	$0
Business Type / Enterprise	$0	$0

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁶

$26,182

$7,412

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Cotter owes

No debt at June 30, 2026.⁷

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	$0	$0
2014	$0	$0
2013	$0	$0
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	$0	$0
2022	$0	$0
2021	$0	$0
2020	$0	$0
2019	$0	$0
2018	$0	$0
2017	$0	$0
2016	$0	$0
2015	$0	$0
2014	$0	$0
2013	$0	$0
2012	$0	$0
2011	$0	$0
2010	$0	$0

The 5% limit⁸

General obligation debt is $0, 0% of the limit of about $76,566 (5% of $1.5M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances⁹. Cotter’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination Follow-Up, period ending Friday, August 31, 2018 (PDF).

Audits¹⁰

The latest: Periodic Examination Follow-Up for the period ending Friday, August 31, 2018 (PDF), released Friday, January 11, 2019, by a CPA firm.

1 earlier report for Cotter

Periodic Examination, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2016Tuesday, December 27, 2016

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? ¹¹

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: $3,877 in FY25, down 6% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 25% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$4,383	$3,743	$3,430	$3,877

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−25%$4,134 → $3,877, down 6% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 25% 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 down 5% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 24% less.

$3,493

$3,073

Federal grants, for comparison: $2,572 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)¹².

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

Cotter City Council At-Large

3 seats: the top 3 win.

Betty Phillips Winner833.3%
Thad Fulton Winner833.3%
Britton Noble Winner833.3%

Cotter Mayor

Mark Jay Unopposed8100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Cotter; 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.

Cotter City Council At-Large (3 seats)
Now held by Dwight Britton, Betty Phillips, Thad Fulton
Cotter Mayor
Now held by Mark Jay

Candidates as county auditors and civicAPI list them; a filing can take a few days to appear here¹³.

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 ballot¹⁴.

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁵

Mark S. Lofgren (Sen. 48)Taylor R. Collins (Rep. 95)

U.S. House:District 1

Louisa County Columbus 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. ↩
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 Cotter; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Cotter 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.

Cotter

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Cotter

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $0.80 more5

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Cotter’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Cotter owes

The 5% limit8

Money in reserve

Audits10

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 Congress15

Compared with places this size³

Outside the limit: $0.80 more⁵

The 5% limit⁸

Audits¹⁰

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁵