City

Essex

$3,130 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($37.16 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,240 a yearof that goes to the city ($14.76 per $1,000)

$296,034property taxes the city levies, FY27

$851,087city 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.

Calvin L. KinneyEssex Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Jeff EshelmanEssex City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Kevin NaicoEssex City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Betty FranksEssex City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Dennis GreshamEssex City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Patti BallingerEssex 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 Essex

Homes and businesses in most of Essex pay a combined $37.16 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Page County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $14.76. Estimate your bill.

City of Essex$14.7640%
Essex schools$12.8134%
Page County$7.3420%
Iowa Western Community College$1.474%
Page County Assessor$0.491%
Page County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.29<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$34.83	$15.13
FY21	$38.28	$16.22
FY22	$39.78	$15.84
FY23	$37.64	$13.91
FY24	$34.98	$14.77
FY25	$39.02	$15.44
FY26	$37.71	$15.05
FY27	$37.16	$14.76

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$34.83	$15.13
FY21	$38.28	$16.22
FY22	$39.78	$15.84
FY23	$37.64	$13.91
FY24	$34.98	$14.77
FY25	$39.02	$15.44
FY26	$37.71	$15.05
FY27	$37.16	$14.76

Compared with places this size³

Essex’s city property tax rate of $14.76 per $1,000 is the 53rd highest of 183 Iowa cities with 480–1,100 people. The middle of the group is $12.78.

See all 183

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Exira	$24.81	766
2	Rolfe	$22.67	505
3	Dayton	$22.51	766
4	Charter Oak	$21.32	521
5	Correctionville	$19.84	759
6	Pomeroy	$19.60	511
7	Allison	$19.06	937
8	Dumont	$19.04	614
9	Seymour	$18.78	646
10	Dexter	$18.69	631
11	Fonda	$18.52	636
12	Kanawha	$18.11	638
13	Swea City	$18.04	545
14	Greene	$17.91	971
15	Alden	$17.90	738
16	Elma	$17.82	493
17	Dows	$17.70	509
18	New Hartford	$17.69	555
19	Lansing	$17.67	959
20	Rockwell	$17.54	1,044
21	Walnut	$17.46	728
22	Murray	$17.44	609
23	Gowrie	$17.17	943
24	Colo	$17.14	856
25	Adair	$16.84	792
26	Eddyville	$16.82	965
27	Elk Horn	$16.78	631
28	Oxford	$16.70	715
29	Buffalo Center	$16.58	839
30	Bancroft	$16.52	677
31	Titonka	$16.45	491
32	Eldon	$16.42	788
33	Early	$16.35	571
34	Truro	$16.34	515
35	Mechanicsville	$16.12	974
36	Scranton	$16.01	496
37	Armstrong	$15.87	847
38	Ruthven	$15.84	710
39	Minden	$15.77	581
40	Walker	$15.74	671
41	Newell	$15.49	850
42	Riceville	$15.31	807
43	Neola	$15.30	917
44	Sidney	$15.19	1,048
45	Gilbertville	$15.15	792
46	Stanwood	$15.12	612
47	Stratford	$15.03	688
48	Griswold	$15.01	975
49	Zearing	$14.99	508
50	Readlyn	$14.99	857
51	Wyoming	$14.81	526
52	Hopkinton	$14.79	622
53	Essex	$14.76	721
54	Gilmore City	$14.60	484
55	Dunlap	$14.56	1,030
56	Garnavillo	$14.52	751
57	Maxwell	$14.50	862
58	Sabula	$14.38	498
59	Collins	$14.32	503
60	Clermont	$14.30	571
61	Moulton	$14.25	596
62	Mcgregor	$14.20	725
63	Olin	$14.19	652
64	Primghar	$14.18	893
65	Elgin	$14.05	676
66	Ossian	$13.88	777
67	Redfield	$13.73	719
68	Victor	$13.72	852
69	Edgewood	$13.64	908
70	Sioux Rapids	$13.63	722
71	Donnellson	$13.63	859
72	Gladbrook	$13.58	775
73	Rockford	$13.52	722
74	Janesville	$13.43	1,052
75	Boyden	$13.39	694
76	Baxter	$13.32	983
77	Anita	$13.28	953
78	Van Horne	$13.27	768
79	Keota	$13.21	888
80	Shellsburg	$13.20	987
81	De Soto	$13.18	937
82	Quasqueton	$13.12	587
83	Farmington	$13.10	583
84	Anthon	$13.05	534
85	Odebolt	$13.00	967
86	Coggon	$12.99	691
87	Earlville	$12.90	713
88	Brighton	$12.88	592
89	Danville	$12.87	910
90	Underwood	$12.85	973
91	Malvern	$12.79	1,056
92	Montrose	$12.78	734
93	Goldfield	$12.73	617
94	Wellsburg	$12.68	709
95	Delmar	$12.68	541
96	Badger	$12.67	540
97	Stanton	$12.62	664
98	Hospers	$12.58	703
99	Everly	$12.51	570
100	Hazleton	$12.48	711
101	West Point	$12.39	903
102	Hinton	$12.38	959
103	Preston	$12.38	940
104	Alburnett	$12.30	672
105	Hubbard	$12.30	837
106	Moravia	$12.27	625
107	Hedrick	$12.22	717
108	Carson	$12.22	772
109	Wheatland	$12.18	765
110	Schaller	$12.14	702
111	Winfield	$12.04	1,006
112	Elkhart	$12.00	1,079
113	Afton	$11.96	864
114	Lowden	$11.93	767
115	Tabor	$11.88	983
116	Albert City	$11.88	627
117	Aurelia	$11.84	970
118	Merrill	$11.64	713
119	Ellsworth	$11.57	495
120	Morning Sun	$11.50	702
121	Battle Creek	$11.49	683
122	Wall Lake	$11.43	739
123	West Bend	$11.42	770
124	Dakota City	$11.39	764
125	Marcus	$11.31	1,069
126	Dunkerton	$11.30	840
127	Sutherland	$11.25	628
128	Arcadia	$11.23	588
129	Whiting	$11.21	725
130	Shelby	$11.17	730
131	Blairstown	$11.04	705
132	Manilla	$11.01	756
133	Hamburg	$10.95	863
134	Clarence	$10.94	991
135	Ireton	$10.93	571
136	Fontanelle	$10.88	684
137	Richland	$10.82	532
138	Grand Mound	$10.78	608
139	Cambridge	$10.53	844
140	Swisher	$10.39	909
141	Schleswig	$10.39	820
142	Melbourne	$10.38	771
143	Radcliffe	$10.37	540
144	Elk Run Heights	$10.33	1,061
145	Fredericksburg	$10.27	983
146	Ventura	$10.22	701
147	Inwood	$10.22	962
148	Milo	$10.20	762
149	Hartford	$10.16	729
150	What Cheer	$10.01	595
151	Newhall	$9.99	887
152	Cumming	$9.85	527
153	Graettinger	$9.81	810
154	Breda	$9.80	492
155	Doon	$9.78	640
156	Long Grove	$9.59	849
157	Paullina	$9.21	979
158	Winthrop	$8.94	814
159	Crescent	$8.72	626
160	Ainsworth	$8.62	511
161	Keosauqua	$8.58	944
162	Grand Junction	$8.57	715
163	Princeton	$8.24	917
164	Gilman	$8.10	530
165	Lakeside	$8.10	695
166	Kellogg	$8.10	597
167	Riverside	$8.02	1,063
168	Agency	$7.94	623
169	Hills	$7.94	911
170	Fremont	$7.86	688
171	Larchwood	$7.52	954
172	North English	$7.49	1,030
173	Sloan	$7.49	1,078
174	Sully	$7.41	891
175	Fruitland	$7.21	928
176	Lawton	$7.10	949
177	Wayland	$7.07	935
178	Raymond	$6.85	754
179	Keystone	$6.80	616
180	Shueyville	$6.79	725
181	New Virginia	$5.97	499
182	Orleans	$4.13	503
183	Okoboji	$3.83	729

The $8.10 limit

Essex’s general levy is $8.26 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.16 above the limit; it has to come down in steps.⁴ 131 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.51 · FY26 $8.42 · FY27 $8.26 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $6.50 more⁵

Liability, property & self insurance costs$3.82 · $75,743
Total Employee Benefit Levies$2.68 · $53,119

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$163,61456%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$75,74326%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$53,11918%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Essex’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 182 Iowa cities closest in size (480–1,100 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (182)
Business Type / Enterprise	49¢	40¢
Public Works	15¢	16¢
Public Safety	11¢	9¢
General Government	11¢	10¢
Culture and Recreation	9¢	9¢
Everything else	4¢	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.

Public Works$225,19526%
General Government$177,41021%
Culture and Recreation$161,74019%
Public Safety$157,55019%
Community and Economic Development$81,29010%
Capital Projects$47,9026%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($705,100 in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$139,250	$154,343
Public Safety	$307,900	$238,295
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$152,575	$213,481
Debt Service	$0	$0
Culture and Recreation	$117,755	$121,005
Community and Economic Development	$57,200	$199,196
Capital Projects	$0	$33,970
Business Type / Enterprise	$427,832	$599,321

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁶

$2.5M

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? ⁷

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: $102,538 in FY25, down 2% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 22% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$101,700	$99,355	$101,984	$102,538
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	–	–	–	–

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−21%$103,090 → $102,538, 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 37% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 9% more.

$96,267

$91,947

Federal grants, for comparison: $4,620 in FY25.

Elections

Most recent: November 4, 2025

City · 2

Essex City Council At-Large

2 seats: the top 2 win.

Kevin Naico Winner13544.4%
Jeff Eshelman Winner7524.7%
Jeremy McComb 5518.1%
Donald Olson 3912.8%

Essex Mayor

Calvin L. Kinney Winner11285.5%
Lisa Nelson 1914.5%

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

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress⁸

Tom Shipley (Sen. 9)Thomas Jay Moore (Rep. 18)

U.S. House:District 3

Page County Essex 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 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 Essex; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Essex 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.