Polk County staff outlines proposed 2025 budget, sets public hearings and tax-rate schedule

County staff presented Polk County’s draft 2025 budget at a July 21 workshop, saying the plan uses a no-new-revenue, voter-approval tax rate of 0.5986 and assumes a 96% collection rate.

The presentation, delivered by a county staff member, said certified property values rose 12.22% (about $643,405,000) and that the net value for budgeting increased 11.89%. The staff member said the county’s 2024 tax rate was 0.5830, the 2025 rate had been 0.6092 in a prior scenario, and that the budget before the court is based on 0.5986. "The voter approval rate with no new revenue is 0.5986, which is what we placed in our budget," the staff member said.

Why it matters: the rate and the certified values determine revenue available for the general fund, debt service and road and bridge operations. The staff member said debt service and delinquent collections account for the first distribution out of the property tax rate. The draft allocates 64.4343% of the rate to the general fund and 26.3532% to road and bridge (no change from the prior budget). Road and bridge base funding across the four precincts was shown as $8,730,382.36, with precinct distribution percentages presented as Precinct 1: 22%, Precinct 2: 23%,…