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.
Property taxes
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 | $36.54 | $32.42 | $10.90 |
| FY26 | $36.71 | $32.79 | $10.51 |
| FY25 | $38.10 | $32.80 | $11.21 |
| FY24 | $37.33 | $33.34 | $11.32 |
| FY23 | $39.34 | $33.60 | $11.32 |
| FY22 | $39.61 | $34.42 | $11.69 |
| FY21 | $39.89 | $34.63 | $11.86 |
| FY20 | $40.96 | $34.68 | $0.00 |
Rates by city, FY27
Typical combined rate in each city, per $1,000 of taxable value.
Show the numbers
| City | Typical rate | Since FY22 |
|---|---|---|
| Alleman | $38.25 | -2.0% |
| Altoona | $27.86 | -7.9% |
| Ankeny | $33.17 | -15.3% |
| Bondurant | $31.76 | -17.1% |
| Carlisle | $42.19 | -2.6% |
| Clive | $33.87 | -2.0% |
| Des Moines | $44.15 | -0.2% |
| Elkhart | $40.85 | +2.9% |
| Granger | $36.55 | -17.4% |
| Grimes | $35.75 | -11.6% |
| Johnston | $31.36 | -20.9% |
| Mitchellville | $37.10 | +4.3% |
| Norwalk | $32.32 | -5.8% |
| Pleasant Hill | $25.56 | -21.2% |
| Polk City | $37.14 | -6.3% |
| Runnells | $37.64 | +2.6% |
| Sheldahl | $36.41 | +2.6% |
| Urbandale | $36.64 | -7.0% |
| West Des Moines | $35.13 | -1.2% |
| Windsor Heights | $38.80 | -8.7% |
What’s taxed
$39.04B of taxable value in 2025 valuations, +31.8% since 2020. Who carries the load, by kind of property:
- Homes$23.73B59%
- Commercial$13.57B34%
- Industrial$1.54B4%
- Utilities, railroads and other$1.05B3%
- Farmland and farm buildings$211.6M<1%
Show the numbers
| Valuation year | Homes | Farmland | Commercial | Industrial | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $23.73B | $211.6M | $13.57B | $1.54B | $39.04B |
| 2024 | $22.65B | $210.9M | $11.87B | $1.69B | $36.41B |
| 2023 | $21.77B | $206.4M | $11.65B | $1.57B | $35.28B |
| 2022 | $20.61B | $202.5M | $9.99B | $1.06B | $32.07B |
| 2021 | $18.93B | $198.7M | $10.06B | $2.16B | $31.60B |
| 2020 | $17.91B | $181.9M | $9.47B | $1.82B | $29.63B |
| 2019 | $17.15B | $177.7M | $9.19B | $1.79B | $28.54B |
| 2018 | $15.99B | $163.0M | $8.52B | $1.58B | $26.48B |
Budget and spending
The county’s budget
Polk County plans to spend $393.8M in FY27, from property taxes, state and federal money, fees and its reserves. It spent $672.6M in FY25.
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$2.72
- Debt Service · countywide$0.62
- Countywide · countywide$6.61
- Rural Basic · rural$3.69
- Rural Supplemental · rural$0.60
- Total Rural · rural$10.90
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.
Show the numbers
| Year | Collected |
|---|---|
| FY24 | $98.9M |
| FY23 | $90.4M |
| FY22 | $88.3M |
| FY21 | $83.3M |
| FY20 | $64.6M |
| FY19 | $3.4M |
| FY18 | $2.8M |
| FY17 | $2.5M |
| FY16 | $3.2M |
| FY15 | $3.2M |
| FY14 | $2.6M |
State payments to the county and its cities
Sales tax collected for them and property tax credits paid on residents’ behalf: $115.4M in FY26. The newest year may be partial.
Who received them, FY26
Show the numbers
| Program | FY27 | FY26 | FY25 | FY24 | FY23 | FY22 | FY21 | FY20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local option sales tax | $6.9M | $88.1M | $87.2M | $92.4M | $93.0M | $99.7M | $54.8M | $55.9M |
| Homestead property tax credit | – | $26.7M | $25.6M | $24.7M | $24.4M | $24.1M | $24.2M | $23.7M |
| Ag land and family farm tax credits | $217,044 | $283,409 | $296,834 | $299,225 | $280,520 | $267,008 | $299,364 | $230,912 |
| Business property tax credit | – | – | $13.9M | $21.7M | $16.5M | $17.2M | $17.4M | $18.0M |
| Elderly and disabled property tax credit | – | $319,866 | $347,213 | $431,348 | $415,487 | $437,271 | $471,324 | $510,812 |
| Military service property tax credit | – | – | – | $161,699 | $171,229 | $180,142 | $188,064 | $194,733 |
Elections
Most recent: November 3, 2026
Ballot measures · 3
Passed Yes 62.2% (14,340) · No 37.8% (8,719)
Passes with more yes votes than no.
Passed Yes 66.7% (164) · No 33.3% (82)
Passes with more yes votes than no.
Passed Yes 70.0% (2,245) · No 30.0% (962)
Passes with more yes votes than no.
County offices · 7
- Harrison Furlow Unopposed
- Izaah Knox DUnopposed
- Lisa J. Chiodo DUnopposed
- Mary L. Wells DUnopposed
Townships · 23
- Mildred A. Kruse Unopposed
- Donald Rothfus Unopposed
- Maureen Ryan Unopposed
- Michael Sweeney Unopposed
- JoAnn McKibben Unopposed
- Mark D. Fargo Unopposed
- Josie Lehman Unopposed
- Dawn Refsell Unopposed
- Ryan Thrailkill Unopposed
- Mickey Wise Unopposed
- Mary Ellen Cory Unopposed
- Terry M. Adamson Unopposed
- Kurt D. Bailey Unopposed
- Janna Colvin Unopposed
- Jeff Colvin Unopposed
- Cindy L. Twedt Unopposed
- Marcy Cross Unopposed
- Elizabeth Cline Unopposed
- Daniel E. Lee Unopposed
- Evan Trainer Unopposed
Local races from civicAPI and county auditors for Polk County; official results are on each county auditor’s site.
Places in the county
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.