City

Elk Horn

$3,140 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($37.25 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,410 a yearof that goes to the city ($16.78 per $1,000)

$207,074property taxes the city levies, FY27

$1.3Mcity 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.

Derick HogbergElk Horn City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Justin LarsenElk Horn City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Danny L. PetersenElk Horn City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Kayla CreekElk Horn City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Kendall PetersenElk Horn City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Stan JensElk Horn 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 Elk Horn

Homes and businesses in most of Elk Horn pay a combined $37.25 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Shelby County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $16.78. Estimate your bill.

City of Elk Horn$16.7845%
Everyone else$14.1738%
Shelby County$6.3117%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$33.21	$13.03
FY21	$33.25	$13.28
FY22	$33.24	$13.20
FY23	$32.85	$12.88
FY24	$36.28	$15.84
FY25	$38.43	$17.50
FY26	$35.09	$14.59
FY27	$37.25	$16.78

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$33.21	$13.03
FY21	$33.25	$13.28
FY22	$33.24	$13.20
FY23	$32.85	$12.88
FY24	$36.28	$15.84
FY25	$38.43	$17.50
FY26	$35.09	$14.59
FY27	$37.25	$16.78

Compared with places this size³

Elk Horn’s city property tax rate of $16.78 per $1,000 is the 27th highest of 184 Iowa cities with 420–940 people. The middle of the group is $12.87.

See all 184

#	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	Oxford Junction	$20.84	424
6	Correctionville	$19.84	759
7	Pomeroy	$19.60	511
8	Allison	$19.06	937
9	Dumont	$19.04	614
10	Seymour	$18.78	646
11	Dexter	$18.69	631
12	Fonda	$18.52	636
13	Kanawha	$18.11	638
14	Swea City	$18.04	545
15	Alden	$17.90	738
16	Elma	$17.82	493
17	Dows	$17.70	509
18	New Hartford	$17.69	555
19	Walnut	$17.46	728
20	Murray	$17.44	609
21	Thompson	$17.25	478
22	Gowrie	$17.17	943
23	Ashton	$17.17	434
24	Colo	$17.14	856
25	Latimer	$16.96	477
26	Adair	$16.84	792
27	Elk Horn	$16.78	631
28	Oxford	$16.70	715
29	Buffalo Center	$16.58	839
30	Whittemore	$16.54	478
31	Bancroft	$16.52	677
32	Titonka	$16.45	491
33	Eldon	$16.42	788
34	Early	$16.35	571
35	Truro	$16.34	515
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	Russell	$15.18	475
45	Gilbertville	$15.15	792
46	Stanwood	$15.12	612
47	Stratford	$15.03	688
48	Zearing	$14.99	508
49	Readlyn	$14.99	857
50	Maynard	$14.85	466
51	Wyoming	$14.81	526
52	Humeston	$14.80	472
53	Hopkinton	$14.79	622
54	Essex	$14.76	721
55	Gilmore City	$14.60	484
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	Ocheyedan	$14.22	424
63	Mcgregor	$14.20	725
64	Olin	$14.19	652
65	Primghar	$14.18	893
66	Garwin	$14.08	469
67	Farragut	$14.07	480
68	Elgin	$14.05	676
69	Lime Springs	$13.95	467
70	Dow City	$13.94	477
71	Ossian	$13.88	777
72	Redfield	$13.73	719
73	Victor	$13.72	852
74	Edgewood	$13.64	908
75	Sioux Rapids	$13.63	722
76	Donnellson	$13.63	859
77	Albion	$13.58	444
78	Gladbrook	$13.58	775
79	Lamont	$13.57	429
80	New Albin	$13.55	435
81	Rockford	$13.52	722
82	Boyden	$13.39	694
83	Van Horne	$13.27	768
84	Keota	$13.21	888
85	De Soto	$13.18	937
86	Quasqueton	$13.12	587
87	Farmington	$13.10	583
88	Anthon	$13.05	534
89	Little Rock	$13.03	447
90	Coggon	$12.99	691
91	Earlville	$12.90	713
92	Brighton	$12.88	592
93	Danville	$12.87	910
94	Montrose	$12.78	734
95	Goldfield	$12.73	617
96	Wellsburg	$12.68	709
97	Delmar	$12.68	541
98	Badger	$12.67	540
99	Stanton	$12.62	664
100	Hospers	$12.58	703
101	Norway	$12.53	463
102	Everly	$12.51	570
103	Hazleton	$12.48	711
104	West Point	$12.39	903
105	Preston	$12.38	940
106	Alburnett	$12.30	672
107	Hubbard	$12.30	837
108	Moravia	$12.27	625
109	Hedrick	$12.22	717
110	Carson	$12.22	772
111	Wheatland	$12.18	765
112	Schaller	$12.14	702
113	Hawkeye	$12.11	429
114	Afton	$11.96	864
115	Lowden	$11.93	767
116	Albert City	$11.88	627
117	Runnells	$11.79	467
118	Allerton	$11.72	432
119	Merrill	$11.64	713
120	Ellsworth	$11.57	495
121	Morning Sun	$11.50	702
122	Battle Creek	$11.49	683
123	Wall Lake	$11.43	739
124	West Bend	$11.42	770
125	Dakota City	$11.39	764
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	Ireton	$10.93	571
135	Fontanelle	$10.88	684
136	Richland	$10.82	532
137	Grand Mound	$10.78	608
138	Batavia	$10.77	434
139	Cambridge	$10.53	844
140	Lovilia	$10.46	456
141	Swisher	$10.39	909
142	Schleswig	$10.39	820
143	Melbourne	$10.38	771
144	Radcliffe	$10.37	540
145	Stacyville	$10.36	436
146	Ventura	$10.22	701
147	Milo	$10.20	762
148	Hartford	$10.16	729
149	What Cheer	$10.01	595
150	Newhall	$9.99	887
151	Cumming	$9.85	527
152	Graettinger	$9.81	810
153	Breda	$9.80	492
154	Doon	$9.78	640
155	Long Grove	$9.59	849
156	Alleman	$9.12	439
157	Winthrop	$8.94	814
158	Crescent	$8.72	626
159	Ainsworth	$8.62	511
160	Keosauqua	$8.58	944
161	Grand Junction	$8.57	715
162	Princeton	$8.24	917
163	Gilman	$8.10	530
164	Grandview	$8.10	431
165	Kellogg	$8.10	597
166	Lakeside	$8.10	695
167	Lost Nation	$8.10	425
168	Agency	$7.94	623
169	Hills	$7.94	911
170	Fremont	$7.86	688
171	Delhi	$7.81	438
172	Klemme	$7.74	429
173	Beacon	$7.56	434
174	Sully	$7.41	891
175	Fruitland	$7.21	928
176	Marquette	$7.08	434
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	University Park	$5.27	476
183	Orleans	$4.13	503
184	Okoboji	$3.83	729

The $8.10 limit

Elk Horn’s general levy is $8.13 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.03 above the limit; it has to come down in steps.⁴ 208 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.37 · FY26 $8.13 · FY27 $8.13 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $8.65 more⁵

Total Employee Benefit Levies$6.61 · $72,913
Debt Service Levy$2.05 · $43,280

Tax increment financing (TIF)

$10.1M of taxable value in Elk Horn is in TIF districts’ increment (47% of the city’s taxable value), 2025 valuations, taxed in FY27.⁶ It budgeted $300,000 in TIF revenue for FY25.

$589,793

What that value would raise at each government’s rate, FY27⁷

Taxes on TIF value go to the city’s TIF fund instead of the governments that levy them, including about $148,949 of the city’s own.

Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton schools$78,761
Shelby County$61,157

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$126,862
FY17	$94,455
FY18	$85,403
FY19	$237,932
FY20	$49,346
FY21	$24,124
FY22	$283,987
FY23	$589,793

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$126,862
FY17	$94,455
FY18	$85,403
FY19	$237,932
FY20	$49,346
FY21	$24,124
FY22	$283,987
FY23	$589,793

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$89,70244%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$72,91335%
Debt Service Levy$43,28021%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Elk Horn’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 183 Iowa cities closest in size (420–940 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (183)
Business Type / Enterprise	81¢	40¢
Public Works	5¢	17¢
Capital Projects	5¢	6¢
General Government	3¢	12¢
Culture and Recreation	2¢	9¢
Everything else	4¢	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.

Capital Projects$360,96129%
Public Works$302,60424%
Culture and Recreation$199,36616%
General Government$190,61315%
Public Safety$112,7509%
Debt Service$77,7906%
Health and Social Services$8,3751%
Community and Economic Development$2,5000%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($4.2M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$251,600	$151,146
Public Safety	$48,000	$329,519
Health and Social Services	$0	$7,943
General Government	$73,250	$89,994
Debt Service	$525,000	$520,133
Culture and Recreation	$131,500	$172,911
Community and Economic Development	$2,500	$1,230
Capital Projects	$816,632	$374,151
Business Type / Enterprise	$239,421	$237,560

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁸

$2.0M

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Elk Horn owes

$873,119 at June 30, 2026: $1,453 per resident. 468th most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁹

$1.2M

$873,119

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$873,119	$1,453
2025	$426,848	$710
2024	$504,112	$839
2023	$206,000	$343
2022	$726,000	$1,208
2021	$746,000	$1,241
2020	$555,000	$923
2019	$600,000	$998
2018	$712,000	$1,185
2017	$824,000	$1,371
2016	$933,000	$1,552
2015	$1.0M	$1,730
2014	$1.1M	$1,897
2013	$1.1M	$1,895
2012	$931,000	$1,549
2011	$1.0M	$1,681
2010	$1.2M	$1,970

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$873,119	$1,453
2025	$426,848	$710
2024	$504,112	$839
2023	$206,000	$343
2022	$726,000	$1,208
2021	$746,000	$1,241
2020	$555,000	$923
2019	$600,000	$998
2018	$712,000	$1,185
2017	$824,000	$1,371
2016	$933,000	$1,552
2015	$1.0M	$1,730
2014	$1.1M	$1,897
2013	$1.1M	$1,895
2012	$931,000	$1,549
2011	$1.0M	$1,681
2010	$1.2M	$1,970

Down 26% since 2010.

The 5% limit¹⁰

General obligation debt is $103,000, 5% of the limit of about $2.2M (5% of $44.5M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

5 obligations at June 30, 2026

Kind	For	Paid off by	Owed
Revenue Bonds	Water Project	2028	$515,229
Loans	FIRE TRUCK LOAN	2032	$150,182
General Obligation	Sewer improvements	2032	$103,000
Loans	STREET LOAN	2032	$63,708
Revenue Bonds	Sewer Improvement	2033	$41,000

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 balances¹¹. Elk Horn’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2015 (PDF).

Audits¹²

The latest: Periodic Examination for the period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2015 (PDF), released Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 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? ¹³

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: $85,354 in FY25, down 0% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 20% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$84,599	$82,704	$84,893	$85,354

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.

$187,881

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$2,607
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$187,881
FY23	$106,974
FY24	$0
FY25	$0

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$2,607
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$187,881
FY23	$106,974
FY24	$0
FY25	$0

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−20%$85,521 → $85,354, down 0% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 20% 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 35% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 7% more.

$79,196

Federal grants, for comparison: $9,877 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)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 · 1

Elk Horn City Council At-Large

2 seats: the top 2 win.

Derick Hogberg Winner10947.0%
Justin Larsen Winner9741.8%
Samuel Preis 2611.2%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Elk Horn; 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.

Elk Horn City Council At-Large (3 seats)
Now held by Kendall Petersen, Danny L. Petersen, Kayla Creek
Elk Horn Mayor
Now held by Stan Jens

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

Jason Schultz (Sen. 6)Craig Steven Williams (Rep. 11)

U.S. House:District 4

Shelby CountyElk Horn-Kimballton 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. ↩
This multiplies the taxable value in the city’s TIF districts by each government’s rate on TIF value. It is not the money each government lost: without TIF, the same taxes would be spread over a bigger base, so rates would be lower for everyone; the state’s school aid formula makes up much of a school district’s share; and some of the value might not have been built without TIF. Each government still gets its debt service levy on TIF value, and a school district its physical plant and equipment and instructional support levies; those aren’t counted here. Community colleges, assessors and other smaller levies are left out. ↩
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 Elk Horn; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Elk Horn 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.

Elk Horn

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Elk Horn

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $8.65 more5

Tax increment financing (TIF)

What that value would raise at each government’s rate, FY277

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Elk Horn’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Elk Horn owes

The 5% limit10

Money in reserve

Audits12

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

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: $8.65 more⁵

What that value would raise at each government’s rate, FY27⁷

The 5% limit¹⁰

Audits¹²

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁷