Local taxes › Washington County › Kalona

City

Kalona

$3,040 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home here, FY27, for every local government ($36.09 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$870 a yearof that goes to the city ($10.37 per $1,000)

$1.4Mproperty taxes the city levies, FY27

$3.1Mcity 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.

Eileen BeranKalona City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Joe SchmidtKalona City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Taylor Yeggy-BergKalona City Council At-Large · elected November 4, 2025
Gregory SchmidtKalona City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Jenelle BenderKalona City Council At-Large · elected November 7, 2023
Mark RobeKalona 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 Kalona

Homes and businesses in most of Kalona pay a combined $36.09 per $1,000 of taxable value (FY27). They pay it all to the Washington County treasurer, who passes each government its share; the city sets and gets only its own piece, $10.37. Estimate your bill.

Mid-Prairie schools$13.0136%
City of Kalona$10.3729%
Washington County$9.6827%
Kirkwood Community College$1.434%
Washington County Hospital$1.003%
Washington County Assessor$0.411%
Washington County Extension (ISU Extension and Outreach)$0.18<1%

Rates over time

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

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$34.94	$10.72
FY21	$34.85	$10.59
FY22	$34.61	$10.59
FY23	$34.98	$10.37
FY24	$35.43	$10.37
FY25	$35.91	$10.37
FY26	$35.78	$10.37
FY27	$36.09	$10.37

Show the numbers

Year	Combined	City’s own
FY20	$34.94	$10.72
FY21	$34.85	$10.59
FY22	$34.61	$10.59
FY23	$34.98	$10.37
FY24	$35.43	$10.37
FY25	$35.91	$10.37
FY26	$35.78	$10.37
FY27	$36.09	$10.37

Compared with places this size³

Kalona’s city property tax rate of $10.37 per $1,000 is the 6th lowest of 76 Iowa cities with 1,800–4,100 people. The middle of the group is $13.96.

See all 76

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Eldora	$26.87	2,595
2	Pocahontas	$20.79	1,848
3	Rockwell City	$20.74	2,185
4	Bloomfield	$20.41	2,773
5	Belmond	$19.86	2,405
6	Sibley	$19.77	2,787
7	Albia	$19.70	3,579
8	Sac City	$19.69	1,992
9	Eagle Grove	$19.32	3,615
10	West Liberty	$18.68	3,724
11	Toledo	$18.21	2,372
12	La Porte City	$18.08	2,267
13	Tama	$17.74	2,997
14	Clarion	$17.74	2,751
15	Britt	$17.72	2,001
16	Missouri Valley	$17.68	2,638
17	Madrid	$16.93	2,824
18	West Union	$16.60	2,435
19	Audubon	$16.52	2,008
20	Grundy Center	$16.36	2,821
21	Belle Plaine	$16.34	2,335
22	Colfax	$16.25	2,305
23	Lamoni	$16.15	2,072
24	Cresco	$16.13	3,890
25	Marengo	$16.10	2,415
26	Postville	$15.68	2,418
27	Tipton	$15.54	3,059
28	Stuart	$15.48	1,887
29	Granger	$15.22	2,095
30	Sigourney	$15.20	1,974
31	Sumner	$14.83	2,032
32	Waukon	$14.76	3,799
33	Rock Rapids	$14.57	2,709
34	Monticello	$14.49	4,095
35	Jesup	$14.31	2,541
36	Osage	$14.29	3,559
37	Parkersburg	$14.15	1,986
38	Ida Grove	$14.10	1,988
39	Lake Mills	$13.82	2,077
40	Rock Valley	$13.76	4,024
41	Emmetsburg	$13.70	3,632
42	Wilton	$13.62	2,914
43	New Hampton	$13.44	3,433
44	Wapello	$13.29	2,026
45	Hudson	$13.19	2,916
46	Center Point	$13.19	2,578
47	Greenfield	$13.13	1,988
48	Hawarden	$13.02	2,630
49	Garner	$12.86	3,049
50	Bellevue	$12.67	2,321
51	Milford	$12.57	3,258
52	New London	$12.56	1,853
53	Lisbon	$12.50	2,238
54	Dallas Center	$12.42	1,993
55	Onawa	$12.32	2,795
56	Monroe	$12.28	2,021
57	Denver	$12.27	1,955
58	Alta	$12.13	2,039
59	Atkins	$11.99	2,168
60	Hull	$11.79	2,459
61	Cascade	$11.64	2,396
62	West Branch	$11.63	2,876
63	Mitchellville	$11.54	2,686
64	Solon	$11.53	3,284
65	Northwood	$11.28	2,047
66	Williamsburg	$11.11	3,380
67	Ely	$11.08	2,371
68	Ogden	$10.99	1,970
69	Carter Lake	$10.67	3,752
70	Story City	$10.39	3,439
71	Kalona	$10.37	2,762
72	West Burlington	$10.15	3,249
73	Peosta	$9.82	2,195
74	Robins	$9.68	3,362
75	Epworth	$9.42	2,042
76	Fairfax	$8.10	2,937

The $8.10 limit

Kalona’s general levy is $7.89 per $1,000 of taxable value in FY27, $0.21 below the limit.⁴ 572 of 934 Iowa cities have a higher general levy. All cities.

$8.10

FY23 $8.10 · FY24 $8.10 · FY25 $8.21 · FY26 $8.04 · FY27 $7.89 (before FY25, the general levy alone)

Outside the limit: $2.48 more⁵

Total Employee Benefit Levies$1.28 · $167,509
Debt Service Levy$0.69 · $98,732
Liability, property & self insurance costs$0.52 · $67,703

Tax increment financing (TIF)

$11.9M of taxable value in Kalona is in TIF districts’ increment (8% of the city’s taxable value), 2025 valuations, taxed in FY27.⁶ It budgeted $330,278 in TIF revenue for FY25.

$357,840

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 $115,105 of the city’s own.

Mid Prairie schools$102,002
Washington County$101,244

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$304,997
FY17	$97,709
FY18	$258,584
FY19	$246,238
FY20	$242,694
FY22	$250,788
FY23	$357,840

Show the numbers

Year	TIF revenue
FY16	$304,997
FY17	$97,709
FY18	$258,584
FY19	$246,238
FY20	$242,694
FY22	$250,788
FY23	$357,840

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$1.0M76%
Total Employee Benefit Levies$167,50912%
Debt Service Levy$98,7327%
Liability, property & self insurance costs$67,7035%

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of Kalona’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 75 Iowa cities closest in size (1,800–4,100 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Cities this size (75)
Business Type / Enterprise	27¢	39¢
Public Works	16¢	10¢
Culture and Recreation	14¢	7¢
Community and Economic Development	13¢	3¢
Debt Service	11¢	8¢
Everything else	20¢	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 Works$833,45427%
Community and Economic Development$554,16618%
Culture and Recreation$552,72018%
Debt Service$426,36314%
Public Safety$391,64412%
General Government$382,98712%

The state’s FY27 file doesn’t include business type / enterprise yet ($1.0M in FY26), so this total is low.

Budget compared with what it spent, FY23

Function	Budget	Spent
Public Works	$619,539	$655,513
Public Safety	$267,698	$283,921
Health and Social Services	$0	$0
General Government	$282,009	$414,234
Debt Service	$515,199	$494,218
Culture and Recreation	$587,269	$587,986
Community and Economic Development	$336,690	$881,127
Capital Projects	$0	$393,740
Business Type / Enterprise	$910,456	$1.2M

What it spent each year

FY24 left out⁸

$7.9M

$7.1M

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Kalona owes

$5.7M at June 30, 2026: $2,184 per resident. 361st most per resident of 939 Iowa places of its kind (the list).⁹

$7.8M

$5.7M

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$5.7M	$2,184
2025	$6.3M	$2,411
2024	$6.4M	$2,418
2023	$4.6M	$1,750
2022	$5.2M	$1,984
2021	$5.9M	$2,250
2020	$6.6M	$2,492
2019	$7.2M	$2,720
2018	$7.8M	$2,963
2017	$7.1M	$2,713
2016	$3.5M	$1,318
2015	$3.9M	$1,465
2014	$3.3M	$1,242
2013	$3.8M	$1,428
2012	$4.3M	$1,652
2011	$4.9M	$1,845
2010	$3.6M	$1,368

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$5.7M	$2,184
2025	$6.3M	$2,411
2024	$6.4M	$2,418
2023	$4.6M	$1,750
2022	$5.2M	$1,984
2021	$5.9M	$2,250
2020	$6.6M	$2,492
2019	$7.2M	$2,720
2018	$7.8M	$2,963
2017	$7.1M	$2,713
2016	$3.5M	$1,318
2015	$3.9M	$1,465
2014	$3.3M	$1,242
2013	$3.8M	$1,428
2012	$4.3M	$1,652
2011	$4.9M	$1,845
2010	$3.6M	$1,368

Up 60% since 2010.

The 5% limit¹⁰

General obligation debt is $2.2M, 16% of the limit of about $13.6M (5% of $272.2M, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

9 obligations at June 30, 2026

Kind	For	Paid off by	Owed
General Obligation	Rec Project - UMB Bank	2036	$2.2M
Revenue Bonds	Local Option Sales Tax Bond- Southtown Recreation Project.	2044	$2.0M
Revenue Bonds	Sewer Project	2039	$663,000
Revenue Bonds	Sewer Project	2034	$505,000
Revenue Bonds	SRF Short Term Loan - Sewer	2028	$178,341
Revenue Bonds	Storm Sewer Bonds	2033	$105,000
Capital Leases/Lease to Purchase	Skid Loader Purchase	2028	$41,110
Capital Leases/Lease to Purchase	Backhoe Purchase	2028	$37,319
Capital Leases/Lease to Purchase	2024 GMC Truck Purchase	2028	$23,963

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. Kalona’s latest audit has them: Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF).

Audits¹²

The latest: Financial Statement for the period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF), released Monday, June 1, 2026, by a CPA firm.

The report has no Schedule of Findings Iowa Funnel could read.

16 earlier reports for Kalona

Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2023Friday, March 29, 2024
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2022Monday, February 13, 2023
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2021Thursday, March 3, 2022
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2020Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2019Monday, February 10, 2020
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2018Monday, December 10, 2018
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2017Friday, March 2, 2018
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2016Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2015Monday, February 8, 2016
Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2014Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2013Friday, February 21, 2014
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2012Monday, February 4, 2013
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2011Thursday, March 8, 2012
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2010Thursday, March 31, 2011
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2009Friday, March 19, 2010

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: $373,513 in FY25, up 22% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 2% less. Grants are below.

Show the numbers

Source	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Road Use Tax (streets)	$356,897	$361,917	$371,494	$373,513

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.

$423,292

$300,000

State grants$300,000100%

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$0
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$0
FY23	$423,292
FY24	$0
FY25	$300,000

Show the numbers

Year	Grants and projects
FY19	$0
FY20	$0
FY21	$0
FY22	$0
FY23	$423,292
FY24	$0
FY25	$300,000

Has it kept up with prices?

Each source from FY19 to FY25, after inflation.

Road Use Tax (streets)−2%$305,266 → $373,513, up 22% 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 41% since FY19 while prices rose 25%, so it buys 13% more.

$437,108

$387,970

Federal grants, for comparison: $189,670 in FY22.

Business awards

Every award statewide

State economic development awards

Community college new jobs training: 6 contracts since 1999 worth $1.9M, for 269 pledged jobs.

Awards statewide

Elections

Running for mayor and city council

Filing opens Monday, August 23, 2027: in 285 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

Kalona City Council At-Large

3 seats: the top 3 win.

Taylor Yeggy-Berg Winner26728.9%
Joe Schmidt Winner26628.8%
Eileen Beran Winner24326.3%
Henry Beisheim 14916.1%

Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Kalona; 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.

Kalona City Council At-Large (2 seats)
Now held by Jenelle Bender, Gregory Schmidt
Kalona Mayor
Now held by Mark Robe

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

Dawn Driscoll (Sen. 46)Heather Hora (Rep. 92)

U.S. House:District 1

Washington County Mid-Prairie 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 Kalona; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Kalona 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.

Kalona

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Who gets a property owner’s tax bill in Kalona

Rates over time

Compared with places this size3

The $8.10 limit

Outside the limit: $2.48 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 Kalona’s budget goes, FY26

Planned spending, FY27

What it spent each year

Debt, reserves and audits

What Kalona 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

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: $2.48 more⁵

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

The 5% limit¹⁰

Audits¹²

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹⁷