City

Cromwell

$2,550 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($30.25 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$660 a yearof that goes to the city ($7.81 per $1,000)

$24,680property taxes the city levies, FY27

$103,000city budget, all funds, FY27²

Who runs it

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

Curt D AngellCromwell Mayor · elected November 4, 2025
Dylan Kevin McVayCromwell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Jacob McGeheeCromwell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Judy HopkinsCromwell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Robert D HeppCromwell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Tonya RehmeyerCromwell City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Amy AngellCromwell City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Robert R MarquartCromwell 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 Cromwell

Homes and businesses in most of Cromwell pay a combined $30.25 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Union County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $7.81. Estimate your bill.

Creston schools$11.0937%
City of Cromwell$7.8126%
Union County$7.6525%
Union County Greater Community Hosp$1.655%
Southwestern Community College$1.074%
Union County Assessor$0.682%
Union County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.311%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$38.89	$8.64
FY21	$38.91	$8.16
FY22	$38.62	$8.28
FY23	$37.99	$8.28
FY24	$38.14	$8.45
FY25	$36.58	$9.96
FY26	$35.12	$10.94
FY27	$30.25	$7.81

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$38.89	$8.64
FY21	$38.91	$8.16
FY22	$38.62	$8.28
FY23	$37.99	$8.28
FY24	$38.14	$8.45
FY25	$36.58	$9.96
FY26	$35.12	$10.94
FY27	$30.25	$7.81

Compared with places this size³

Cromwell’s city property tax rate of $7.81 per $1,000 is the 34th lowest of 135 Iowa cities with 70–160 people. The middle of the group is $9.55.

See all 135

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Castana	$34.13	103
2	Brayton	$25.07	138
3	Hansell	$23.66	85
4	Harris	$23.13	145
5	Whitten	$22.65	98
6	Stanley	$20.69	86
7	Rowan	$19.53	118
8	Chester	$19.30	134
9	Bouton	$19.25	125
10	Ricketts	$19.22	105
11	Grant	$18.71	82
12	Swaledale	$18.62	136
13	Derby	$18.13	89
14	Bristow	$17.39	139
15	Woolstock	$17.26	141
16	Monmouth	$16.41	129
17	Blockton	$16.37	123
18	Geneva	$16.25	137
19	Waterville	$16.25	112
20	Popejoy	$15.80	76
21	Woodburn	$15.59	133
22	Goodell	$15.16	139
23	Marne	$15.03	109
24	Baldwin	$14.91	99
25	Palmer	$13.89	137
26	Ayrshire	$13.55	128
27	Searsboro	$13.55	129
28	Ferguson	$13.53	98
29	Lanesboro	$13.53	112
30	Calumet	$13.16	144
31	Delaware	$12.86	139
32	Clemons	$12.69	135
33	Cylinder	$12.52	84
34	Millersburg	$12.40	135
35	Bridgewater	$12.29	145
36	Arion	$12.14	99
37	Webb	$12.10	139
38	Lone Rock	$11.92	143
39	East Peru	$11.89	119
40	Henderson	$11.85	140
41	Morley	$11.74	94
42	Ledyard	$11.74	118
43	Toronto	$11.68	101
44	Beaman	$11.54	155
45	Matlock	$11.44	74
46	Melrose	$11.27	110
47	Nodaway	$11.20	74
48	Linn Grove	$11.15	155
49	Promise City	$11.13	91
50	Leighton	$11.07	153
51	Masonville	$11.00	98
52	Somers	$10.99	121
53	Havelock	$10.95	127
54	Wallingford	$10.75	154
55	Pacific Junction	$10.56	99
56	Oto	$10.45	71
57	Barnes City	$10.44	152
58	Bradgate	$10.37	76
59	Randall	$10.35	156
60	North Washington	$10.23	107
61	Dawson	$10.19	110
62	Hartwick	$9.90	91
63	Clare	$9.81	133
64	Tingley	$9.81	146
65	Rutland	$9.65	116
66	Rock Falls	$9.61	143
67	Superior	$9.58	127
68	Webster	$9.55	94
69	Martinsburg	$9.49	109
70	Larrabee	$9.41	116
71	Hamilton	$9.35	125
72	Wiota	$9.32	91
73	Floris	$9.29	119
74	Mitchell	$9.22	118
75	Westphalia	$9.18	133
76	Prairieburg	$8.91	156
77	Welton	$8.86	124
78	Archer	$8.84	116
79	Luther	$8.83	147
80	Fraser	$8.81	107
81	Macksburg	$8.81	103
82	Pilot Mound	$8.54	155
83	Andover	$8.28	106
84	Carpenter	$8.10	92
85	Chillicothe	$8.10	79
86	Rome	$8.10	112
87	Scarville	$8.10	75
88	Shannon City	$8.10	73
89	Struble	$8.10	72
90	Unionville	$8.10	74
91	Westfield	$8.10	121
92	Vincent	$8.09	125
93	Buckeye	$7.94	82
94	Morrison	$7.86	101
95	Oyens	$7.86	88
96	Castalia	$7.86	141
97	Dickens	$7.86	146
98	Ralston	$7.86	76
99	Chatsworth	$7.86	72
100	Rose Hill	$7.86	156
101	West Chester	$7.82	147
102	Cromwell	$7.81	104
103	Mcclelland	$7.79	147
104	Arispe	$7.71	95
105	Luzerne	$7.69	111
106	Westwood	$7.67	96
107	Kinross	$7.57	80
108	Bernard	$7.56	117
109	Braddyville	$7.49	142
110	Garber	$7.35	76
111	Franklin	$7.31	133
112	Spragueville	$7.20	92
113	Weldon	$7.18	134
114	Craig	$7.01	78
115	Brunsville	$6.95	128
116	Zwingle	$6.93	86
117	Pleasant Plain	$6.79	83
118	Houghton	$6.73	129
119	Williamson	$6.72	126
120	Willey	$6.69	72
121	Lincoln	$6.32	119
122	Tennant	$6.29	83
123	Gravity	$6.18	149
124	Ackworth	$5.90	117
125	Springbrook	$5.79	145
126	Maysville	$5.77	155
127	Harper	$5.29	117
128	Panorama Park	$4.62	142
129	Keomah Village	$3.15	107
130	Mcintire	$2.78	115
131	Graf	$2.56	76
132	Centralia	$2.41	117
133	New Liberty	$2.27	141
134	North Buena Vista	$1.78	107
135	Balltown	$0.12	78

The $8.10 limit

Cromwell’s general levy is $7.81 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.29 below the limit.⁴ 685 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $6.24 · FY24 $6.43 · FY25 $7.68 · FY26 $8.07 · FY27 $7.81 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

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$24,561100%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Cromwell’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 136 Iowa cities closest in size (70–160 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (136)
Public Works	50¢	29¢
General Government	34¢	27¢
Culture and Recreation	15¢	7¢
Public Safety	1¢	9¢

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$61,55060%
General Government$30,70030%
Culture and Recreation$8,9509%
Public Safety$1,8002%

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$14,771	$16,207
Public Safety	$1,400	$1,000
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$19,975	$41,211
Debt Service	$0	$0
Culture and Recreation	$4,000	$4,283
Community and Economic Development	$400	$5,357
Capital Projects	$0	$0
Business Type / Enterprise	$0	$0

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁵

$68,058

$64,278

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Cromwell owes

No debt at June 30, 2026.⁶

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% limit⁷

General obligation debt is $0, 0% of the limit of about $312,037 (5% of $6.2M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

Money in reserve

The state’s budget files don’t include cities’ fund balances⁸. Cromwell’s latest audit has them: Periodic Examination, period ending Thursday, March 31, 2022 (PDF).

Audits⁹

The latest: Periodic Examination for the period ending Thursday, March 31, 2022 (PDF), released Monday, December 12, 2022, by a CPA firm.

1 earlier report for Cromwell

Periodic Examination, period ending Monday, June 30, 2014Wednesday, October 1, 2014

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? ¹⁰

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: $10,772 in FY25, up 8% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 14% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$15,422	$10,161	$10,714	$10,772

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−14%$9,940 → $10,772, up 8% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 14% 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 44% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 15% more.

$19,649

$16,107

Federal grants, for comparison: $8,074 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)¹¹.

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

Cromwell City Council At-Large

5 seats: the top 5 win.

Judy Hopkins Winner2617.1%
Robert D Hepp Winner2516.4%
Tonya Rehmeyer Winner2315.1%
Dylan Kevin McVay Winner2315.1%
Jacob McGehee Winner2315.1%
Anthony Jordan Hoadley 1711.2%

2 more →

Cromwell Mayor

Curt D Angell Unopposed30100.0%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Cromwell; 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.

Cromwell City Council At-Large (5 seats)
Now held by Jacob McGehee, Robert D Hepp, Judy Hopkins, Robert R Marquart, Amy Angell
Cromwell Mayor
Now held by Curt D Angell

Candidates as county auditors and civicAPI list them; a filing can take a few days to appear here¹².

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 ballot¹³.

Related places

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁴

Tom Shipley (Sen. 9)Devon Wood (Rep. 17)

U.S. House:District 3

Union County Creston 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. ↩
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 Cromwell; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Cromwell 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.

Cromwell

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Cromwell

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

The city’s levies, FY27

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of Cromwell’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Cromwell owes

The 5% limit7

Money in reserve

Audits9

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 Congress14

Compared with places this size³

The 5% limit⁷

Audits⁹

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁴