City

Ankeny

$2,790 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($33.17 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$830 a yearof that goes to the city ($9.90 per $1,000)

$62.5Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$144.1Mcity 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.

Bobbi BentzAnkeny Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Dustin GraberAnkeny City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Justin HollinrakeAnkeny City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Matt DavisAnkeny City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Bobbi BentzAnkeny City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Jeff PerryAnkeny City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Todd ShaferAnkeny 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.

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 Ankeny

Homes and businesses in most of Ankeny pay a combined $26.78 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Polk County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $9.90. Estimate your bill.

Ankeny schools$16.0049%
City of Ankeny$9.9030%
Polk County$6.6120%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$40.30	$10.35
FY21	$39.55	$10.00
FY22	$39.17	$9.95
FY23	$38.74	$9.90
FY24	$30.98	$9.90
FY25	$38.16	$9.90
FY26	$33.42	$9.90
FY27	$33.17	$9.90

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$40.30	$10.35
FY21	$39.55	$10.00
FY22	$39.17	$9.95
FY23	$38.74	$9.90
FY24	$30.98	$9.90
FY25	$38.16	$9.90
FY26	$33.42	$9.90
FY27	$33.17	$9.90

Compared with places this size³

Ankeny’s city property tax rate of $9.90 per $1,000 is the lowest of 9 Iowa cities with 59,000–101,000 people. The middle of the group is $15.43.

See all 9

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Waterloo	$21.77	67,477
2	Council Bluffs	$17.48	62,665
3	Davenport	$16.58	100,938
4	Sioux City	$15.51	86,875
5	Iowa City	$15.43	76,710
6	West Des Moines	$10.80	73,664
7	Ames	$10.27	69,026
8	Dubuque	$10.06	58,987
9	Ankeny	$9.90	76,727

The $8.10 limit

Ankeny’s general levy is $5.73 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $2.37 below the limit.⁴ 895 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $6.15 · FY24 $6.20 · FY25 $6.02 · FY26 $5.90 · FY27 $5.73 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $4.17 more⁵

Debt Service Levy$3.00 · $19.5M
Total Employee Benefit Levies$1.05 · $6.5M
Aviation Authority$0.12 · $759,291

Tax increment financing (TIF)

$288.9M of taxable value in Ankeny is in TIF districts’ increment (4% of the city’s taxable value), 2025 valuations, taxed in FY27.⁶ It budgeted $8.7M in TIF revenue for FY25.

$9.9M

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$7.3M
FY17	$7.4M
FY18	$7.9M
FY19	$7.0M
FY20	$8.5M
FY21	$8.8M
FY22	$9.1M
FY23	$9.9M

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$7.3M
FY17	$7.4M
FY18	$7.9M
FY19	$7.0M
FY20	$8.5M
FY21	$8.8M
FY22	$9.1M
FY23	$9.9M

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$35.7M57%
Debt Service Levy$19.5M31%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$6.5M10%
Aviation Authority (under sec.330A.15)$759,2911%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Ankeny’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 8 Iowa cities closest in size (59,000–101,000 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (8)
Business Type / Enterprise	36¢	35¢
Public Safety	18¢	16¢
Capital Projects	15¢	19¢
Debt Service	14¢	8¢
Culture and Recreation	6¢	5¢
Everything else	11¢	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$41.7M29%
Public Safety$38.0M26%
Debt Service$28.8M20%
Culture and Recreation$13.0M9%
Public Works$11.1M8%
General Government$6.4M4%
Community and Economic Development$5.2M4%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($71.3M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$8.2M	$7.2M
Public Safety	$27.0M	$26.5M
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$5.3M	$4.5M
Debt Service	$24.3M	$24.2M
Culture and Recreation	$9.9M	$9.9M
Community and Economic Development	$5.3M	$5.0M
Capital Projects	$25.2M	$31.6M
Business Type / Enterprise	$52.8M	$44.3M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁷

$184.0M

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Ankeny owes

$143.5M at June 30, 2026: $2,113 per resident. 373rd most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁸

$174.9M

$143.5M

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$143.5M	$2,113
2025	$132.8M	$1,955
2024	$137.6M	$2,027
2023	$128.3M	$1,890
2022	$125.9M	$1,854
2021	$136.1M	$2,005
2020	$145.9M	$2,149
2019	$154.9M	$2,282
2018	$150.3M	$2,214
2017	$148.9M	$2,193
2016	$156.3M	$2,302
2015	$165.3M	$2,435
2014	$171.2M	$2,522
2013	$174.8M	$2,575
2012	$174.9M	$2,577
2011	$169.3M	$2,493
2010	$157.2M	$2,316

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$143.5M	$2,113
2025	$132.8M	$1,955
2024	$137.6M	$2,027
2023	$128.3M	$1,890
2022	$125.9M	$1,854
2021	$136.1M	$2,005
2020	$145.9M	$2,149
2019	$154.9M	$2,282
2018	$150.3M	$2,214
2017	$148.9M	$2,193
2016	$156.3M	$2,302
2015	$165.3M	$2,435
2014	$171.2M	$2,522
2013	$174.8M	$2,575
2012	$174.9M	$2,577
2011	$169.3M	$2,493
2010	$157.2M	$2,316

Down 9% since 2010.

The 5% limit⁹

General obligation debt is $94.5M, 17% of the limit of about $548.1M (5% of $10.96B, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

24 obligations at June 30, 2026

Kind	For	Paid off by	Owed
General Obligation	Various Public Improvements	2036	$19.6M
General Obligation	Refunding/Various Public Improvements	2037	$16.9M
General Obligation	Various Public Improvements	2035	$16.7M
Revenue Bonds	Northwest Water Tower	2044	$10.2M
Revenue Bonds	Central Iowa Water Works Asset Transfer	2045	$8.7M
General Obligation	Refunding/Various Public Improvements	2031	$7.6M
General Obligation	Various Public Improvements	2033	$7.3M
General Obligation	Various Public Improvements	2034	$6.9M
Revenue Bonds	Various Water Improvements	2046	$6.6M
General Obligation	Various Public Improvements	2029	$6.3M
Revenue Bonds	High Trestle Trail Transmission Main	2043	$4.7M
General Obligation	Advance Refunding	2028	$4.5M
General Obligation	Refunding/Various Public Improvements	2030	$3.7M
General Obligation	Various Public Improvements	2028	$3.4M
Revenue Bonds	Various Water Improvements	2039	$3.4M
Revenue Bonds	Various Water Improvements	2033	$3.2M
Revenue Bonds	Various Water Improvements	2034	$3.1M
Revenue Bonds	South Ankeny Boulevard Transmission Main	2043	$2.8M
Revenue Bonds	Various Water Improvements	2041	$2.2M
Revenue Bonds	Various Water Improvements	2035	$2.2M
Revenue Bonds	SW Walnut Street and SW Ordinance Road Water Main	2045	$1.3M
General Obligation	Various Public Improvements	2027	$945,000
General Obligation	Advance Refunding	2028	$690,000
Revenue Bonds	Various Water Improvements	2029	$460,000

General obligation bonds are repaid from property taxes; revenue bonds and loans from the fees or revenue they’re tied to. On the Treasurer’s site

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances¹⁰. Ankeny’s latest audit has them: Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF).

Audits¹¹

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

1 earlier report for Ankeny

Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024Wednesday, January 8, 2025

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? ¹²

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: $10.7M in FY25, up 33% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 6% more. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$9.1M	$9.3M	$9.6M	$10.0M
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)	$1.1M	$853,928	$970,622	$772,203

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.

$5.1M

$705,881

Iowa DOT projects$664,32394%
State grants$26,6894%
Iowa Department of Natural Resources$14,8692%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$1.9M
FY20	$1.4M
FY21	$2.4M
FY22	$3.7M
FY23	$509,325
FY24	$5.1M
FY25	$705,881

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$1.9M
FY20	$1.4M
FY21	$2.4M
FY22	$3.7M
FY23	$509,325
FY24	$5.1M
FY25	$705,881

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)+13%$7.1M → $10.0M, up 41% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 13% more
Commercial and industrial tax replacement (“backfill”)−40%$1.0M → $772,203, down 24% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 40% less

Business awards

Every award statewide

State economic development awards

6 businesses have state awards in ANKENY: $8.4M in grants, loans and tax benefits, for 363 jobs. Closed projects promised 311 jobs; 303 were there at the end.¹³

MCF Operating, LLC dba Mrs. Clark's Foods
High Quality Jobs Program · FY25 · Under contract: Building · 12 jobs required
$708K
SPAL-USA, Inc.
High Quality Jobs Program · FY23 · Not going ahead: Contract ended · 39 jobs required
$1.1M
MCF Operating, LLC dba Mrs. Clark's Foods
High Quality Jobs Program · FY21 · Under contract: Keeping the jobs · 20 jobs required, 20 reported
$323K
Kreg Enterprises, Inc.
High Quality Jobs Program · FY19 · Under contract: Building · 20 jobs required
$738K
Northern Tool & Equipment Company
High Quality Jobs Program · FY19 · Not going ahead: Declined or withdrawn · 183 jobs required
$750K
Chamness Biodegradables
High Quality Jobs Program · FY19 · Not going ahead: Declined or withdrawn · 36 jobs required
$213K
Casey's Retail Company
High Quality Jobs Program · FY18 · Closed: Met its contract · 101 jobs required, 93 at the end
$4.0M
Hy-Vee, Inc.
High Quality Jobs Program · FY18 · Closed: Met its contract · 209 jobs required, 209 at the end
$2.1M

and 1 more on economic development awards

Community college new jobs training: 54 contracts since 2004 worth $26.3M, for 3,387 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)¹⁴.

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 · 3

Ankeny City Council At-Large

2 seats: the top 2 win.

Dustin Graber Winner6,87125.9%
Justin Hollinrake Winner6,83525.7%
Joseph Herst 6,65625.1%
Joe Ruddy 6,19923.3%

Ankeny City Council At-Large To Fill a Vacancy

Matt Davis Winner6,82450.5%
Greg Romans 6,69449.5%

Ankeny Mayor

Bobbi Bentz Unopposed10,594100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Ankeny; 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.

Ankeny City Council At-Large (3 seats)
Now held by Jeff Perry, Bobbi Bentz, Todd Shafer

Candidates as county auditors and civicAPI list them; a filing can take a few days to appear here¹⁵.

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 ballot¹⁶.

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁷

Mike Bousselot (Sen. 21, 96%)Mike Pike (Sen. 20, 4%)Ryan Weldon (Rep. 41, 49%)Heather Matson (Rep. 42, 47%)Bill Gustoff (Rep. 40, 4%)

U.S. House:District 3

Polk County Ankeny schools Des Moines schools North Polk schools Saydel 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. ↩
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. ↩
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. ↩
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 Ankeny; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Ankeny 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.

Ankeny

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Ankeny

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $4.17 more5

Tax increment financing (TIF)

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Ankeny’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Ankeny owes

The 5% limit9

Money in reserve

Audits11

State money

What the state pays the city every year

Grants and project money

Has it kept up with prices?

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 Congress17

Compared with places this size³

Outside the limit: $4.17 more⁵

The 5% limit⁹

Audits¹¹

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁷