Local taxes › Louisa County

County

Louisa County

9 cities · 9 school districts · How counties work

$2,690 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home in a typical town here, FY27 (a rate of $31.97 per $1,000 of taxable value)
$2,220 a yearon a $200,000 home in the countryside, FY27 ($26.32 per $1,000)
$14.3Mcounty budget, FY27
$767.8Mtaxable value, 2025 valuations (+10.4% in 5 years)

Who runs it

The Board of Supervisors sets the county budget and its property tax; the other officers run elections, records, taxes and law enforcement.

No officials known yet.

Meetings and agendas

What the Board of Supervisors is deciding: each agenda, the resolutions and ordinances on it, and a plain-language summary.

Iowa Funnel doesn’t read this county’s agendas yet. Every council and board posts its agenda at least 24 hours before it meets.

Property taxes

Rates over time

Typical combined rate per $1,000 of taxable value, and the county government’s own rural levy.

In citiesRuralCounty levy
0$10$20$30$40’20’22’24’26’27In citiesRuralCounty levy
0$10$20$30$40’20’21’22’23’24’25’26’27In citiesRuralCounty levy
Show the numbers
YearIn citiesRuralCounty’s rural levy
FY27$31.97$26.32$10.74
FY26$33.43$26.13$10.55
FY25$33.48$26.01$10.49
FY24$33.05$25.10$9.68
FY23$33.86$24.50$9.21
FY22$34.53$24.77$9.37
FY21$36.29$25.44$9.68
FY20$36.02$25.44$9.68

Rates by city, FY27

Typical combined rate in each city, per $1,000 of taxable value.

Show the numbers
CityTypical rateSince FY22
Columbus City$27.20-3.9%
Columbus Junction$31.97-3.6%
Cotter$27.99-1.1%
Fredonia$27.84-1.4%
Grandview$29.23+5.0%
Letts$32.04+1.3%
Morning Sun$31.42-12.5%
Oakville$32.02+0.3%
Wapello$36.08-0.9%

What’s taxed

$767.8M of taxable value in 2025 valuations, +10.4% since 2020. Who carries the load, by kind of property:

  • Homes$306.8M37%
  • Farmland and farm buildings$284.6M34%
  • Utilities, railroads and other$182.5M22%
  • Commercial$41.3M5%
  • Industrial$20.3M2%
Show the numbers
Valuation yearHomesFarmlandCommercialIndustrialTotal
2025$306.8M$284.6M$41.3M$20.3M$767.8M
2024$302.4M$283.4M$39.0M$17.9M$761.8M
2023$292.8M$275.4M$37.6M$17.5M$737.7M
2022$276.0M$271.6M$26.8M$11.9M$698.5M
2021$265.1M$263.7M$34.6M$17.6M$693.2M
2020$250.2M$290.0M$34.3M$17.8M$695.4M
2019$239.6M$281.0M$34.5M$18.1M$677.3M
2018$233.0M$266.6M$32.4M$19.1M$641.5M

Budget and spending

The county’s budget

Louisa County plans to spend $14.3M in FY27, from property taxes, state and federal money, fees and its reserves. It spent $12.2M in FY25.

  • Roads & transportation$5.1M36%
  • Public safety & legal services$4.9M35%
  • Administration$1.6M11%
  • Physical health & social services$940,6917%
  • Parks, libraries, extension & environment$880,0706%
  • Services to residents (records, elections, licenses)$455,7693%
  • Capital projects$329,1132%

Its property tax levies, FY27

Dollars per $1,000 of taxable value. Everyone in the county pays the countywide levies; people outside cities also pay the rural ones, which mostly pay for roads and rural services.

  • General Basic · countywide$4.43
  • General Supplemental · countywide$2.81
  • 422D EMS · countywide$0.57
  • Countywide · countywide$7.80
  • Rural Basic · rural$2.94
  • Total Rural · rural$10.74

From county budgets and annual financial reports filed with the Department of Management.

Sales tax and state money

Local option sales tax collected

The extra local sales tax voters approved, collected by the state and paid back to the county and its cities.

$1.3M
$1.2M
’14’16’18’20’22’24
Show the numbers
YearCollected
FY24$1.2M
FY23$1.2M
FY22$1.3M
FY21$1.2M
FY20$1.0M
FY19$954,207
FY18$936,480
FY17$792,985
FY16$769,443
FY15$782,187
FY14$788,062

State payments to the county and its cities

Sales tax collected for them and property tax credits paid on residents’ behalf: $1.8M in FY26. The newest year may be partial.

$2.2M
$321,990
’20’21’22’23’24’25’26’27
Who received them, FY26
  • Louisa County$1.4M77%
  • City of Wapello$194,20311%
  • City of Morning Sun$68,6494%
  • City of Grandview$38,1152%
  • City of Columbus City$33,7192%
  • City of Letts$31,4132%
  • City of Oakville$18,9341%
  • City of Fredonia$18,8841%
  • City of Cotter$3,1930%
Show the numbers
ProgramFY27FY26FY25FY24FY23FY22FY21FY20
Local option sales tax$83,474$1.0M$1.0M$1.0M$1.2M$1.2M$964,323$863,481
Homestead property tax credit–$478,634$471,813$436,651$429,545$433,939$444,823$445,988
Ag land and family farm tax credits$238,516$278,859$266,968$258,762$290,465$321,563$336,167$339,576
Business property tax credit––$333,191$294,321$256,170$257,087$266,839$257,868
Elderly and disabled property tax credit–$11,748$9,978$13,708$18,794$18,128$18,934$21,084
Military service property tax credit–––$5,465$5,756$5,948$6,192$6,448

Elections

Most recent: November 3, 2026

County offices · 4
Townships · 12

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

Places in the county

At the Statehouse and in Congress

Districts that cover Louisa County; percentages are rough shares of its area. They write the state laws and budget Louisa County works within.

Typical rates are medians across the county’s tax districts, leaving out TIF districts and farmland inside cities. Budgets from the Department of Management; values and sales tax from the Department of Revenue.