Esta página todavía está en inglés. Las páginas principales ya están en español.

Local taxes › Muscatine County › Muscatine

City

Muscatine

$3,210 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($38.14 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,360 a yearof that goes to the city ($16.17 per $1,000)

$17.7Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$49.5Mcity 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.

Angela LewisMuscatine City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Bradley BarkMuscatine Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Jeff OsborneMuscatine City Council Ward 2 · elected November 4, 2025
Nadine BrockertMuscatine City Council Ward 4 · elected November 4, 2025
Don LampeMuscatine City Council Ward 1 · elected November 7, 2023
John P. JindrichMuscatine City Council Ward 5 · elected November 7, 2023
Matt ConardMuscatine City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Peggy GordonMuscatine City Council Ward 3 · 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.

Agendas will appear here as they’re posted. 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 Muscatine

Homes and businesses in most of Muscatine pay a combined $38.14 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Muscatine County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $16.17. Estimate your bill.

City of Muscatine$16.1742%
Muscatine schools$13.5035%
Muscatine County$7.0318%
Eastern Iowa Community College$1.043%
Muscatine County Assessor$0.25<1%
Muscatine County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.14<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$38.81	$15.67
FY21	$38.15	$15.67
FY22	$38.00	$15.67
FY23	$37.70	$15.97
FY24	$36.80	$15.67
FY25	$37.56	$15.67
FY26	$38.22	$15.95
FY27	$38.14	$16.17

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$38.81	$15.67
FY21	$38.15	$15.67
FY22	$38.00	$15.67
FY23	$37.70	$15.97
FY24	$36.80	$15.67
FY25	$37.56	$15.67
FY26	$38.22	$15.95
FY27	$38.14	$16.17

Compared with places this size³

Muscatine’s city property tax rate of $16.17 per $1,000 is the 6th highest of 16 Iowa cities with 16,000–34,000 people. The middle of the group is $14.59.

See all 16

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Ottumwa	$21.01	25,648
2	Fort Dodge	$20.89	24,886
3	Newton	$17.10	15,709
4	Clinton	$16.80	24,118
5	Marshalltown	$16.25	27,886
6	Muscatine	$16.17	23,298
7	Burlington	$15.94	23,637
8	Coralville	$14.70	23,959
9	Mason City	$14.47	26,948
10	Indianola	$13.33	16,297
11	Waukee	$12.80	34,420
12	North Liberty	$11.84	21,904
13	Johnston	$11.39	25,022
14	Altoona	$10.75	22,598
15	Grimes	$10.70	17,266
16	Clive	$9.92	19,508

The $8.10 limit

Muscatine’s general levy is $8.21 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.11 above the limit; it has to come down in steps.⁴ 160 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.37 · FY26 $8.29 · FY27 $8.21 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $7.97 more⁵

Total Employee Benefit Levies$5.20 · $5.6M
Debt Service Levy$2.10 · $2.4M
Liability, property & self insurance costs$0.48 · $523,331
Opr & Maint publicly owned Transit$0.18 · $199,178

Tax increment financing (TIF)

$70.5M of taxable value in Muscatine is in TIF districts’ increment (6% of the city’s taxable value), 2025 valuations, taxed in FY27.⁶ It budgeted $2.6M in TIF revenue for FY25.

$2.5M

$2.3M

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$2.0M
FY17	$1.9M
FY18	$2.1M
FY19	$2.1M
FY20	$2.5M
FY21	$2.5M
FY22	$2.4M
FY23	$2.3M

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$2.0M
FY17	$1.9M
FY18	$2.1M
FY19	$2.1M
FY20	$2.5M
FY21	$2.5M
FY22	$2.4M
FY23	$2.3M

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$8.9M50%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$5.6M32%
Debt Service Levy$2.4M14%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$523,3313%
Opr & Maint publicly owned Transit$199,1781%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Muscatine’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 15 Iowa cities closest in size (16,000–34,000 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (15)
Business Type / Enterprise	44¢	31¢
Public Safety	15¢	13¢
Capital Projects	11¢	24¢
Community and Economic Development	10¢	4¢
Debt Service	6¢	11¢
Everything else	15¢	17¢

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$13.0M26%
Community and Economic Development$8.9M18%
Capital Projects$8.7M18%
Debt Service$5.7M12%
Culture and Recreation$5.0M10%
Public Works$4.2M8%
General Government$3.9M8%
Health and Social Services$60,0000%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($38.0M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$3.4M	$3.0M
Public Safety	$11.4M	$11.3M
Health and Social Services	$55,000	$55,000
General Government	$3.6M	$3.6M
Debt Service	$2.8M	$2.8M
Culture and Recreation	$4.3M	$4.2M
Community and Economic Development	$5.9M	$5.2M
Capital Projects	$5.1M	$5.4M
Business Type / Enterprise	$25.6M	$25.1M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁷

$103.5M

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Muscatine owes

$37.0M at June 30, 2026: $1,553 per resident. 453rd most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁸

$37.0M

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$37.0M	$1,553
2025	$32.1M	$1,349
2024	$28.4M	$1,192
2023	$22.6M	$951
2022	$25.7M	$1,080
2021	$22.8M	$959
2020	$26.2M	$1,099
2019	$23.3M	$980
2018	$26.6M	$1,118
2017	$25.8M	$1,085
2016	$28.9M	$1,213
2015	$28.8M	$1,209

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$37.0M	$1,553
2025	$32.1M	$1,349
2024	$28.4M	$1,192
2023	$22.6M	$951
2022	$25.7M	$1,080
2021	$22.8M	$959
2020	$26.2M	$1,099
2019	$23.3M	$980
2018	$26.6M	$1,118
2017	$25.8M	$1,085
2016	$28.9M	$1,213
2015	$28.8M	$1,209

Up 28% since 2015.

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances⁹. Muscatine’s latest audit has them: Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF).

Audits¹⁰

The latest: Financial Statement for the period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF), released Wednesday, December 17, 2025, by a CPA firm.

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: $4.2M in FY25, up 12% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 10% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$3.2M	$3.3M	$3.4M	$3.4M
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$615,761	$538,792	$896,898	$826,278

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.

$4.2M

$1.8M

State grants$1.5M83%
Iowa DOT projects$311,53717%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$585,006
FY20	$852,957
FY21	$786,937
FY22	$671,431
FY23	$4.2M
FY24	$1.8M
FY25	$1.8M

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$585,006
FY20	$852,957
FY21	$786,937
FY22	$671,431
FY23	$4.2M
FY24	$1.8M
FY25	$1.8M

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−12%$3.1M → $3.4M, up 10% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 12% less
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)−2%$673,321 → $826,278, up 23% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 2% 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 24% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 1% less.

$4.1M

Federal grants, for comparison: $6.5M in FY25.

Business awards

Every award statewide

State economic development awards

1 business has state awards in MUSCATINE: $4.1M in grants, loans and tax benefits, for 28 jobs.¹²

Kent Pet Group, Inc.
High Quality Jobs Program · FY23 · Under contract: Building · 28 jobs required
$4.1M

Community college new jobs training: 31 contracts since 1995 worth $17.6M, for 2,122 pledged jobs.

Awards statewide

Elections

Running for mayor and city council

Filing opens Monday, August 23, 2027: in 286 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)¹³.

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 · 4

Muscatine City Council At-Large

Angela Lewis Unopposed1,382100.0%

Muscatine City Council Ward 2

Jeff Osborne Unopposed158100.0%

Muscatine City Council Ward 4

Nadine Brockert Unopposed220100.0%

Muscatine Mayor

Bradley Bark Unopposed1,490100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Muscatine; 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.

Muscatine City Council At-Large
Now held by Matt Conard
Muscatine City Council Ward 1
Now held by Don Lampe
Muscatine City Council Ward 3
Now held by Peggy Gordon
Muscatine City Council Ward 5
Now held by John P. Jindrich
Muscatine Mayor
Now held by Bradley Bark

Candidates as county auditors and civicAPI list them; a filing can take a few days to appear here¹⁴.

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 ballot¹⁵.

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁶

Mark S. Lofgren (Sen. 48)Mark Cisneros (Rep. 96)

U.S. House:District 1

Muscatine County Louisa-Muscatine schools Muscatine schools

Notas

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 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. ↩
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. ↩
From the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s project records on the Iowa Data Hub (High Quality Jobs and Targeted Jobs awards since about 2013). Projects that won’t go ahead aren’t counted. ↩
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 Muscatine; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Muscatine works within. ↩

Fuentes: 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.

Muscatine

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Muscatine

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $7.97 more5

Tax increment financing (TIF)

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Muscatine’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Muscatine owes

Money in reserve

Audits10

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

Business awards

State economic development 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 Congress16

Compared with places this size³

Outside the limit: $7.97 more⁵

Audits¹⁰

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁶