Clive City keeps property tax rate at $9.92; unveils $504 million budget and $45 million in capital projects

Chair opened the meeting by presenting the city's biennial citizen satisfaction survey and said safety and public safety ranked highest for residents. The chair said the city will keep its property tax rate at $9.92 per $1,000 for the coming year while continuing to invest in infrastructure and services.

Why it matters: the city's proposed budget totals $504,000,000 with $45,000,000 set aside for capital improvements, funding projects the chair said will include roadwork, parks and flood mitigation. "We're very conservative in our budgeting," the chair said, adding the council intends to preserve low tax rates while delivering services residents expect.

The chair gave examples of household impact and budget priorities. For a typical home value of $318,000 the chair said residents would see about a 2.5% increase (roughly $69 a year); for a business valued at $1,000,000, the increase was described as about 1.1% (about $150). The chair translated that into a daily equivalent: "For city services... that's basically $4.10 a day," with roughly $1 a day for public safety, 62¢ for parks/library/recreation and 37¢ for public works.

On capital spending the presentation listed line items the chair summarized from the staff slides: $14,000,000 in one major line item, $14,000,000 earmarked for flood mitigation, $1,000,000 for City Hall renovation and specific stormwater and park allocations (stormwater cited at about $2,300,000). The chair also highlighted multi-year road projects and a roughly $22,000,000 total project with $3,300,000 planned for the next year.

Funding sources: the chair pointed to the local option sales and service tax as a major revenue source that enables these projects without increasing the city's property tax rate. He cited the public safety center as a $15,000,000 project supported in part by that revenue.

Truth in Taxation and outreach: the chair warned that the state-mandated Truth in Taxation mailing can appear misleading, saying the notice's headline percentage increases (12–14% in the example he showed) do not reflect the city's unchanged tax rate but rather reflect rollback and valuation changes. "Not true," the chair said of the mailing's implication that residents' taxes would rise by nearly 13%. The chair and Pete, a staff member who demonstrated the city's digital tools, directed residents to an online tax calculator on the city website and a text opt-in (text "hello" to 88708) to get personalized estimates and city alerts.

Next steps: the chair noted a public Truth in Taxation hearing will be held (the chair cited March 27) to answer residents' questions. The presentation concluded with staff available to answer follow-up questions.

Sources and attribution: statements and figures above are taken from the council presentation and the Q&A led by the chair (speaker 1) and staff (Pete, speaker 2).