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Local taxes › Van Buren County

County

Van Buren County

7 cities · 6 school districts · How counties work

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$2,610 a yearproperty tax on a $200,000 home in a typical town here, FY27 (a rate of $30.95 per $1,000 of taxable value)1
$1,820 a yearon a $200,000 home in the countryside, FY27 ($21.67 per $1,000)
$12.8Mcounty budget, FY27
$514.8Mtaxable value, 2025 valuations (+15.0% 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$30.95$21.67$7.02
FY26$31.54$22.10$7.27
FY25$30.90$21.83$7.28
FY24$30.66$22.04$6.99
FY23$29.97$22.23$7.07
FY22$29.77$22.77$7.93
FY21$31.31$23.41$8.22
FY20$31.70$24.08$8.69

Rates by city, FY27

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

Show the numbers
CityTypical rateSince FY22
Birmingham$30.13+1.2%
Bonaparte$31.44+6.1%
Cantril$30.95-1.7%
Farmington$32.36-1.6%
Keosauqua$27.85-2.4%
Milton$30.24-4.8%
Stockport$32.95+10.9%

Compared with places this size2

Van Buren County’s countywide property tax rate of $5.29 per $1,000 is the 6th lowest of 31 Iowa counties with 5,600–11,000 people. The middle of the group is $6.16.

Decatur County: $9.59Taylor County: $9.31Winnebago County: $8.49Montgomery County: $8.08Clarke County: $7.88Louisa County: $7.80Davis County: $7.37Greene County: $6.83Fremont County: $6.79Howard County: $6.54Wayne County: $6.47Pocahontas County: $6.38Sac County: $6.36Worth County: $6.25Guthrie County: $6.24Emmet County: $6.16Audubon County: $5.85Monroe County: $5.79Calhoun County: $5.75Humboldt County: $5.74Keokuk County: $5.64Mitchell County: $5.64Monona County: $5.63Osceola County: $5.56Lucas County: $5.40Franklin County: $5.11Adair County: $5.09Ida County: $4.82Palo Alto County: $4.48Hancock County: $4.00Van Buren County: $5.29$4.00 lowest$9.59 highestmiddle
See all 31
#PlaceRate per $1,000People
1Decatur County$9.597,656
2Taylor County$9.315,825
3Winnebago County$8.4910,383
4Montgomery County$8.0810,063
5Clarke County$7.889,524
6Louisa County$7.8010,630
7Davis County$7.379,193
8Greene County$6.838,662
9Fremont County$6.796,494
10Howard County$6.549,360
11Wayne County$6.476,622
12Pocahontas County$6.387,006
13Sac County$6.369,533
14Worth County$6.257,307
15Guthrie County$6.2410,774
16Emmet County$6.169,162
17Audubon County$5.855,562
18Monroe County$5.797,373
19Calhoun County$5.759,711
20Humboldt County$5.749,617
21Keokuk County$5.649,855
22Mitchell County$5.6410,632
23Monona County$5.638,429
24Osceola County$5.566,036
25Lucas County$5.408,758
26Van Buren County$5.297,217
27Franklin County$5.1110,024
28Adair County$5.097,431
29Ida County$4.826,810
30Palo Alto County$4.488,809
31Hancock County$4.0010,616

What’s taxed

$514.8M of taxable value in 2025 valuations, +15.0% since 2020. Who carries the load, by kind of property:

  • Farmland and farm buildings$212.8M40%
  • Homes$208.4M40%
  • Utilities, railroads and other$64.4M12%
  • Commercial$31.6M6%
  • Industrial$8.5M2%
Show the numbers
Valuation yearHomesFarmlandCommercialIndustrialTotal
2025$208.4M$212.8M$31.6M$8.5M$514.8M
2024$197.6M$195.2M$27.6M$7.5M$484.5M
2023$189.8M$189.7M$26.3M$7.5M$471.5M
2022$177.6M$185.7M$22.5M$7.3M$454.2M
2021$170.3M$179.9M$29.5M$10.2M$448.3M
2020$161.9M$188.8M$28.0M$9.8M$447.7M
2019$154.1M$182.8M$27.4M$9.4M$428.4M
2018$153.1M$163.7M$21.5M$8.8M$391.2M

Budget and spending

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

Roads & transportation: 40¢ of every dollar40¢Capital projects: 20¢ of every dollar20¢Public safety & legal services: 16¢ of every dollar16¢Administration: 9¢ of every dollar9¢Physical health & social services: 7¢ of every dollarEverything else: 9¢ of every dollar9¢$1$1
Where it goesOf each dollarCounties this size (30)
Roads & transportation40¢36¢
Capital projects20¢11¢
Public safety & legal services16¢20¢
Administration9¢12¢
Physical health & social services7¢5¢
Everything else9¢10¢

Planned spending from all funds. “Counties this size” is the average for the 30 counties closest in size (5,600–11,000 people).

The county’s budget

Van Buren County plans to spend $12.8M in FY27, from property taxes, state and federal money, fees and its reserves. It spent $10.4M in FY25.

  • Roads & transportation$5.1M40%
  • Capital projects$2.6M20%
  • Public safety & legal services$2.0M16%
  • Administration$1.1M9%
  • Physical health & social services$887,8587%
  • Parks, libraries, extension & environment$639,5875%
  • Services to residents (records, elections, licenses)$427,0113%
  • Other$26,3000%

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$3.40
  • General Supplemental · countywide$1.89
  • Countywide · countywide$5.29
  • Rural Basic · rural$1.73
  • Total Rural · rural$7.02

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.

$933,699
$918,608
’14’16’18’20’22’24
Show the numbers
YearCollected
FY24$918,608
FY23$896,493
FY22$933,699
FY21$829,849
FY20$707,590
FY19$609,366
FY18$596,330
FY17$583,338
FY16$621,003
FY15$604,210
FY14$549,558

State payments to the county and its cities

Sales tax collected for them and property tax credits paid on residents’ behalf: $757,435 in FY26. The newest year may be partial.

$1.0M
$128,427
’20’21’22’23’24’25’26’27
Who received them, FY26
  • Van Buren County$389,02151%
  • City of Keosauqua$111,46615%
  • City of Farmington$70,0009%
  • City of Milton$43,9876%
  • City of Bonaparte$43,3706%
  • City of Birmingham$41,9816%
  • City of Stockport$30,8664%
  • City of Cantril$26,7454%
Show the numbers
ProgramFY27FY26FY25FY24FY23FY22FY21FY20
Local option sales tax$33,051$368,414$352,411$332,011$372,236$397,386$309,331$231,830
Homestead property tax credit–$255,940$247,058$240,654$243,493$245,106$252,046$263,518
Ag land and family farm tax credits$95,376$118,005$127,154$130,665$126,237$130,238$117,718$199,642
Business property tax credit––$249,405$258,913$234,162$226,518$227,827$190,370
Elderly and disabled property tax credit–$15,076$18,062$23,004$19,728$18,948$23,822$26,972
Military service property tax credit–––$4,870$5,037$5,178$5,421$5,668

Elections

Most recent: November 3, 2026

County offices · 6

1 more →

Townships · 20

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

                  Places in the county

                  At the Statehouse and in Congress3

                  Adrian Dickey (Sen. 44)Jeff Shipley (Rep. 87)

                  U.S. House:District 1

                  Cities

                  BirminghamBonaparteCantrilFarmingtonKeosauquaMiltonStockport

                  School districts

                  CardinalDavis CountyFairfieldHarmonyMount PleasantVan Buren