Polk County officials say mailed notice overstated tax increase; county proposes levy cut

At a public hearing on the county's proposed property tax dollars, resident Mike Hatfield of Ankeny said a mailed notice showed a 6.7% increase to his property tax and urged the Polk County Board of Supervisors to reconsider, saying the rise would force fixed-income residents out of their homes. "There is no excuse to have a property tax go up this high," Hatfield said.

The chair of the board responded that the state-required notice used an assumed valuation example that overstated the change. "The mailing made an assumption that a $100,000 home would be placed at a value of $110,000," the chair said, which led to misleading percentage figures. County officials said the county portion of the levy is proposed to decrease by $0.10 per $1,000 of assessed value and that the actual county'level change is much smaller than the mailed figure — the chair cited an approximate 1.2% difference driven by state levy-setting rules and the Department of Management'required format.

Scott Grama asked what cuts produced the levy reduction. County staff said they identified programmatic savings across departments rather than staff layoffs and that departments proposed roughly $11 million in new spending requests, of which approximately $4'$5 million were appropriated; additional revenues and reserves covered the rest. A county staff member also offered to meet with taxpayers individually to review specific tax calculations at the auditor's office.

Several speakers pressed the board about the county's reserves and priorities. One commenter said the county has roughly $60 million in uncommitted funds and suggested those dollars could be used to reduce property taxes further. County officials said they must balance reserves, new requests, and obligations — and that pending state proposals to overhaul property tax rollback and impose limits (discussed in general terms at the meeting) could complicate local budgeting.

The board closed the public hearing and proceeded with scheduled business. No formal county'level increase was adopted at the hearing; the board said the county portion of the levy as noticed is proposed to be reduced by $0.10 per $1,000 and that final impacts on individual bills will still depend on assessment changes and other taxing entities (schools, cities) that make up most of a homeowner's overall rate.