Local taxes › Plymouth County

County

Plymouth County

12 cities · 11 school districts · How counties work

$3,050 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home in a typical town here, FY27 (a rate of $36.26 per $1,000 of taxable value)¹

$1,760 a yearon a $200,000 home in the countryside, FY27 ($20.91 per $1,000)

$40.6Mcounty budget, FY27

$2.52Btaxable value, 2025 valuations (+24.6% 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.

IncomingCraig A. AndersonPlymouth County Board of Supervisors District 4 · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingDon KassPlymouth County Board of Supervisors District 3 · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingJohn MeisPlymouth County Board of Supervisors District 1 · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingShelly SitzmannPlymouth County Treasurer · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingJolynn GoodchildPlymouth County Recorder · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingDarin J. RaymondPlymouth County Attorney · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingBret UdellPlymouth County Agricultural Extension Council · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingJanell HeimgartnerPlymouth County Agricultural Extension Council · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingJeremy HomanPlymouth County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingLori SheehanPlymouth County Agricultural Extension Council · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingRobert PuetzPlymouth County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingScott JonesPlymouth County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingScott SchroederPlymouth County Agricultural Extension Council · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027
IncomingThomas LehnerPlymouth County Agricultural Extension Council · elected November 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027

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 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

How the bill is collected · What each levy is for

Rates over time

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

Show the numbers

Year	In cities	Rural	County’s rural levy
FY27	$36.26	$20.91	$7.48
FY26	$33.42	$21.12	$7.33
FY25	$34.66	$19.22	$7.27
FY24	$28.77	$19.68	$7.45
FY23	$34.72	$20.13	$7.45
FY22	$32.10	$20.71	$7.73
FY21	$30.77	$20.08	$7.90
FY20	$30.02	$20.44	$7.82

Rates by city, FY27

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

Sioux City$36.39
Akron$36.26
Kingsley$32.91
Westfield$31.02
Hinton$28.89
Merrill$28.04
Le Mars$27.57
Remsen$26.06
Struble$24.50
Craig$23.41

City	Typical rate	Since FY22
Akron	$36.26	+13.0%
Brunsville	$23.34	+2.6%
Craig	$23.41	-0.2%
Hinton	$28.89	-3.2%
Kingsley	$32.91	+8.6%
Le Mars	$27.57	+1.1%
Merrill	$28.04	+17.1%
Oyens	$21.60	+1.1%
Remsen	$26.06	-3.7%
Sioux City	$36.39	+2.5%
Struble	$24.50	+4.4%
Westfield	$31.02	+13.6%

Show the numbers

City	Typical rate	Since FY22
Akron	$36.26	+13.0%
Brunsville	$23.34	+2.6%
Craig	$23.41	-0.2%
Hinton	$28.89	-3.2%
Kingsley	$32.91	+8.6%
Le Mars	$27.57	+1.1%
Merrill	$28.04	+17.1%
Oyens	$21.60	+1.1%
Remsen	$26.06	-3.7%
Sioux City	$36.39	+2.5%
Struble	$24.50	+4.4%
Westfield	$31.02	+13.6%

Compared with places this size²

Plymouth County’s countywide property tax rate of $3.53 per $1,000 is the 3rd lowest of 25 Iowa counties with 18,000–38,000 people. The middle of the group is $5.83.

See all 25

#	Place	Rate per $1,000	People
1	Washington County	$9.68	22,631
2	Lee County	$9.59	32,376
3	Henry County	$9.19	19,361
4	Wapello County	$7.64	35,681
5	Winneshiek County	$7.36	19,723
6	Buena Vista County	$7.36	20,816
7	Des Moines County	$6.82	38,411
8	Buchanan County	$6.80	20,733
9	Benton County	$6.77	25,799
10	Webster County	$6.66	36,909
11	Jones County	$6.20	21,116
12	Cedar County	$6.10	18,231
13	Fayette County	$5.83	19,152
14	Delaware County	$5.79	17,609
15	Marion County	$5.57	34,048
16	Jasper County	$5.37	38,107
17	Bremer County	$5.32	25,328
18	Jackson County	$5.28	19,390
19	Sioux County	$4.07	36,554
20	Mahaska County	$3.95	22,034
21	Carroll County	$3.90	20,407
22	Poweshiek County	$3.86	18,454
23	Plymouth County	$3.53	25,825
24	Boone County	$3.24	26,729
25	Dickinson County	$1.90	18,158

Think your assessment is wrong?

Start by talking with the assessor’s office. If that doesn’t settle it, you can file a written protest with the local board of review from April 2 to April 30 (May 1 to June 5 in a county declared a disaster area).³

Who values property here: Plymouth County Assessor

What a protest can and can’t change →

What’s taxed

$2.52B of taxable value in 2025 valuations, +24.6% since 2020. Who carries the load, by kind of property:

Homes$1.18B46%
Farmland and farm buildings$764.6M30%
Commercial$367.3M14%
Industrial$167.8M7%
Utilities, railroads and other$100.6M4%

Show the numbers

Valuation year	Homes	Farmland	Commercial	Industrial	Total
2025	$1.18B	$764.6M	$367.3M	$167.8M	$2.52B
2024	$1.15B	$813.0M	$341.0M	$154.4M	$2.50B
2023	$1.05B	$779.9M	$322.4M	$122.1M	$2.33B
2022	$982.2M	$733.3M	$256.7M	$110.3M	$2.14B
2021	$940.9M	$711.9M	$281.8M	$132.7M	$2.13B
2020	$894.5M	$682.7M	$258.2M	$132.0M	$2.03B
2019	$862.4M	$660.5M	$250.7M	$134.3M	$1.97B
2018	$810.5M	$597.0M	$248.5M	$138.6M	$1.85B

Budget and spending

Reading a local budget

Where each dollar of the county’s budget goes, FY27

Planned spending from all funds. “Counties this size” is the average for the 24 counties closest in size (18,000–38,000 people).

Where it goes	Of each dollar	Counties this size (24)
Roads & transportation	34¢	31¢
Capital projects	29¢	11¢
Public safety & legal services	17¢	25¢
Administration	11¢	12¢
Parks, libraries, extension & environment	5¢	8¢
Everything else	5¢	9¢

The county’s budget

Plymouth County plans to spend $40.6M in FY27, from property taxes, state and federal money, fees and its reserves. It spent $29.3M in FY25.

Roads & transportation$13.6M34%
Capital projects$11.7M29%
Public safety & legal services$7.0M17%
Administration$4.4M11%
Parks, libraries, extension & environment$1.8M5%
Services to residents (records, elections, licenses)$1.3M3%
Physical health & social services$658,2882%

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$3.27
General Supplemental · countywide$0.26
Countywide · countywide$3.53
Rural Basic · rural$3.95
Total Rural · rural$7.48

Roads: spending per mile

Plymouth County spent $10.4M on roads and transportation in FY25, $7,333 for each of its 1,421 miles of county roads: 63rd most of 99 counties (the middle county spent $7,810). It budgeted $13.6M for FY27.⁴

$8,129

$7,333

Year	Spent	Per mile
FY25	$10.4M	$7,333
FY24	$11.5M	$8,129
FY23	$10.4M	$7,312
FY22	$8.7M	$6,154
FY21	$8.9M	$6,268
FY20	$7.4M	$5,233
FY19	$8.0M	$5,634
FY18	$7.6M	$5,320

Show the numbers

Year	Spent	Per mile
FY25	$10.4M	$7,333
FY24	$11.5M	$8,129
FY23	$10.4M	$7,312
FY22	$8.7M	$6,154
FY21	$8.9M	$6,268
FY20	$7.4M	$5,233
FY19	$8.0M	$5,634
FY18	$7.6M	$5,320

Debt, reserves and audits

How local debt works · What an audit tells you

What Plymouth County owes

No debt at June 30, 2026.⁵

$10.6M

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$0	$0
2025	$0	$0
2024	$396,550	$15
2023	$1.0M	$40
2022	$1.6M	$64
2021	$2.3M	$88
2020	$2.9M	$114
2019	$3.7M	$143
2018	$4.8M	$185
2017	$6.0M	$233
2016	$6.5M	$251
2015	$8.4M	$326
2014	$9.9M	$385
2013	$8.9M	$348
2012	$8.9M	$348
2011	$9.8M	$380
2010	$10.6M	$411

Show the numbers

June 30	Owed	Per resident
2026	$0	$0
2025	$0	$0
2024	$396,550	$15
2023	$1.0M	$40
2022	$1.6M	$64
2021	$2.3M	$88
2020	$2.9M	$114
2019	$3.7M	$143
2018	$4.8M	$185
2017	$6.0M	$233
2016	$6.5M	$251
2015	$8.4M	$326
2014	$9.9M	$385
2013	$8.9M	$348
2012	$8.9M	$348
2011	$9.8M	$380
2010	$10.6M	$411

Down 100% since 2010.

The 5% limit⁶

General obligation debt is $0, 0% of the limit of about $209.9M (5% of $4.20B, the full value of its taxable property in 2024).

Money in reserve

Plymouth County plans to end FY27 with $11.2M across its funds, about 3.3 months of its planned spending.⁷ Why governments keep reserves

4.8 mo

3.3 mo

Show the numbers

Year	Start	End	Months of spending
FY27	–	$11.2M	3.3
FY26	$16.4M	$12.2M	4.4
FY25	$18.6M	$10.2M	3.4
FY24	$18.6M	$10.2M	3.5
FY23	$16.1M	$12.0M	4.6
FY22	$12.1M	$10.3M	4.8
FY21	$7.8M	$7.4M	3.7
FY20	$7.5M	$6.1M	3.0
FY19	$8.4M	$5.2M	2.3
FY18	$6.8M	$4.8M	2.6
FY17	$6.1M	$4.2M	2.3
FY16	$7.2M	$4.6M	2.4

Audits⁸

The latest: Financial Statement for the period ending Monday, June 30, 2025 (PDF), released Tuesday, May 19, 2026, by a CPA firm.

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

16 earlier reports for Plymouth County

Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2024Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2023Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2022Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2021Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2020Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2019Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2018Monday, March 4, 2019
Financial Statement, period ending Friday, June 30, 2017Friday, March 30, 2018
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2016Thursday, April 6, 2017
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2015Monday, February 15, 2016
Financial Statement, period ending Monday, June 30, 2014Thursday, March 19, 2015
Financial Statement, period ending Sunday, June 30, 2013Friday, February 28, 2014
Financial Statement, period ending Saturday, June 30, 2012Friday, February 1, 2013
Financial Statement, period ending Thursday, June 30, 2011Friday, February 17, 2012
Financial Statement, period ending Wednesday, June 30, 2010Monday, February 7, 2011
Financial Statement, period ending Tuesday, June 30, 2009Monday, March 22, 2010

Sales tax and state money

Where else the money comes from · Does state money keep pace?

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.

$4.8M

Year	Collected
FY24	$4.8M
FY23	$4.1M
FY22	$4.2M
FY21	$4.2M
FY20	$3.8M
FY19	$3.2M
FY18	$3.1M
FY17	$3.1M
FY16	$2.9M
FY15	$2.8M
FY14	$2.7M

Show the numbers

Year	Collected
FY24	$4.8M
FY23	$4.1M
FY22	$4.2M
FY21	$4.2M
FY20	$3.8M
FY19	$3.2M
FY18	$3.1M
FY17	$3.1M
FY16	$2.9M
FY15	$2.8M
FY14	$2.7M

Property tax credits the state pays

The state pays part of residents’ property tax bills (homestead, ag land and family farm, business, elderly and military credits): $1.8M in FY26, up 14% since FY14 while prices rose 39%, so it buys 18% less. County and city state aid for roads isn’t in the state’s county files yet.

Show the numbers

Credit	FY26	FY25	FY24	FY23	FY22	FY21
Homestead property tax credit	$1.0M	$975,118	$917,736	$904,308	$881,453	$884,503
Ag land and family farm tax credits	$698,639	$653,767	$611,721	$589,983	$580,056	$573,815
Business property tax credit	–	$1.0M	$1.0M	$916,494	$884,615	$900,336
Elderly and disabled property tax credit	$16,561	$17,866	$24,861	$28,054	$25,892	$30,340
Military service property tax credit	–	–	$13,393	$13,857	$14,553	$15,167

Who received the state’s payments

Property tax credits and the local option sales tax the state collected and sent back, by recipient: $6.7M in FY26. The newest year may be partial.

Plymouth County$3.7M55%
City of Le Mars$1.9M28%
City of Remsen$289,6464%
City of Akron$267,2214%
City of Kingsley$240,6284%
City of Hinton$158,6772%
City of Merrill$117,5062%
City of Brunsville$22,1570%

Federal money, business awards and disasters

Federal money statewide · Business awards statewide

State economic development awards

1 business has state awards in Plymouth County: $6.3M in grants, loans and tax benefits, for 135 jobs.⁹

Wells Enterprises, Inc. · Le Mars
High Quality Jobs Program · FY22 · Under contract: Building · 135 jobs required
$6.3M

Community college new jobs training: 18 contracts since 2002 worth $13.8M, for 1,329 pledged jobs.

Awards statewide

Disaster proclamations

The Governor’s disaster proclamations that named Plymouth County in the last three years. One can open state help and extend deadlines.

Gov. Reynolds issues disaster proclamations for Hancock County and Plymouth County in response to severe weather and flooding in July
July 31, 2025 · disaster · Hancock County, Plymouth County · signed proclamation
AI summary Governor Reynolds issued disaster proclamations for Hancock County due to severe weather and flooding on July 17, 2025, and for Plymouth County due to severe weather on July 28, 2025. These proclamations allow state resources to be used and activate the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and the Disaster Case Advocacy Program. The Disaster Case Advocacy Program closes 180 days from the date of the governor's proclamation.¹⁰

Every disaster proclamation

Elections

Most recent: November 3, 2026

Ballot measures · 2

Hinton School Public Measure RD

Passed Yes 61.0% (958) · No 39.0% (612)

Passes with more yes votes than no.

Le Mars Public Measure RC

Failed Yes 45.3% (1,802) · No 54.7% (2,177)

Passes with more yes votes than no.

County offices · 9

Plymouth County Agricultural Extension Council

5 seats: the top 5 win.

Scott Schroeder Winner4,43715.2%
Bret Udell Winner4,37615.0%
Thomas Lehner Winner4,28214.7%
Janell Heimgartner Winner4,13314.2%
Lori Sheehan Winner4,10514.1%
Kevin Hodgson 4,01713.8%

2 more →

Plymouth County Attorney

Darin J. Raymond RUnopposed8,532100.0%

Plymouth County Board of Supervisors District 1

John Meis RUnopposed8,716100.0%

Plymouth County Board of Supervisors District 3

Don Kass RUnopposed8,632100.0%

Plymouth County Board of Supervisors District 4

Craig A. Anderson RWinner7,18975.9%
Ryan Mitchell Weber I2,28624.1%

Plymouth County Recorder

Jolynn Goodchild RUnopposed8,851100.0%

Plymouth County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner

2 seats: the top 2 win.

Robert Puetz Winner6,21451.7%
Jeremy Homan Winner5,80748.3%

Plymouth County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner To Fill a Vacancy · special election

Scott Jones Unopposed7,160100.0%

Plymouth County Treasurer

Shelly Sitzmann RUnopposed9,086100.0%

Townships · 2

Plymouth County Fredonia Township Clerk · 0% reporting

Wayne Pick Unopposed

Plymouth County Fredonia Township Trustee · 0% reporting

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

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 ballot¹¹.

Voter turnout¹²

General election	Plymouth	Iowa	Absentee
2026	62.8% (11,154)	63.4%	35.5%

Every county →

Places in the county

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹³

Kevin Alons (Sen. 7, 55%)Jeff Taylor (Sen. 2, 45%)Travis M. Sitzmann (Rep. 13, 55%)Thomas M. Jeneary (Rep. 3, 45%)

U.S. House:District 4

Cities

Akron Brunsville Craig Hinton Kingsley Le Mars Merrill Oyens RemsenSioux CityStruble Westfield

School districts

Akron Westfield Akron-Westfield Hinton Kingsley-Pierson Lawton-Bronson Le Mars Marcus-Meriden Cleghorn Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn Remsen-Union Sioux City West Sioux

Notes

Typical rates are medians across the county’s tax districts, leaving out tax increment financing (TIF) districts and farmland inside cities. The home figures are for a $200,000 home with the homestead credit. ↩
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 §441.37: a property owner “may file a protest against such assessment with the board of review on or after April 2, to and including April 30, of the year of the assessment.” The disaster extension applies to a county declared a disaster area after March 1 and before May 20 of that year. The protest must be on the Department of Revenue’s form. ↩
Actual spending on roads and transportation from county annual reports (Iowa Data Hub), divided by the miles of rural secondary roads in the county as of January 1 of that fiscal year, from the Iowa DOT’s yearly Miles of Rural Secondary Roads report. Gravel and paved miles count the same, and bridges and road equipment are in the spending, so a county with many bridges or paved roads spends more per mile. ↩
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. ↩
Budgeted figures from the county’s adopted budget (Iowa Data Hub, county budgeted revenues and expenditures): the fund balance it expects at the start and end of the year, and its spending before transfers between funds. Some of a balance is set aside by law for one purpose, such as roads or debt payments, and counties keep some cash because property taxes arrive twice a year. ↩
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 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. ↩
Written by an AI model from the Governor’s press release only. It can miss details; the proclamation is what counts. ↩
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”). ↩
Ballots are the most cast in any one contest on the county’s page at the Secretary of State’s results site; turnout divides them by active and inactive registrations at the start of the election’s month, from the Secretary of State’s monthly county totals. People who registered at the polls count in the ballots but not in that month’s registrations, so turnout here can run a little above the official canvass figure. ↩
Legislative and congressional districts that cover Plymouth County; percentages are rough shares of its area. These lawmakers write the state laws and budget Plymouth County works within. ↩

Sources: County budgets and annual financial reports filed with the Department of Management; tax rates from the Iowa Data Hub; values and sales tax from the Department of Revenue; legislative districts from Census Bureau maps.

Plymouth County

Who runs it

Meetings and agendas

Property taxes

Rates over time

Rates by city, FY27

Compared with places this size2

Think your assessment is wrong?

What’s taxed

Budget and spending

Where each dollar of the county’s budget goes, FY27

The county’s budget

Its property tax levies, FY27

Roads: spending per mile

Debt, reserves and audits

What Plymouth County owes

The 5% limit6

Money in reserve

Audits8

Sales tax and state money

Local option sales tax collected

Property tax credits the state pays

Who received the state’s payments

Federal money, business awards and disasters

State economic development awards

Disaster proclamations

Elections

Most recent: November 3, 2026

Past ballot measures

When a measure can be on the ballot

Voter turnout12

Places in the county

At the Statehouse and in Congress13

Cities

School districts

Compared with places this size²

The 5% limit⁶

Audits⁸

Voter turnout¹²

At the Statehouse and in Congress¹³