Finance Director Michelle Wiedner presents proposed Black Hawk County tax levy; budget hearing set for April 20

Michelle Wiedner, Black Hawk County finance director, presented the proposed property tax levy and FY2027 budget at a special board session on April 13, saying the county now expects total tax collections to rise by about 1.8% and that recent board adjustments have reduced earlier-projected residential increases.

Wiedner told the Board of Supervisors the draft levy and tax-asking materials first published around March 1 and discussed at a March 24 hearing showed larger percentage increases (urban residential earlier projected around 4.55%, rural residential around 5.45%), but subsequent decisions narrowed those amounts. "As of today, if the board chooses to stay with the decisions they made through last week, our urban residential increase is at 3.03% and our rural residential is at 3.41%," Wiedner said.

She said the countywide levy being presented at the upcoming adoption hearing is now about $5.57 per $1,000 of taxable value, and that the collection estimate tied to the proposed levy would be roughly $35.1 million at the hearing figure. Wiedner summarized the combined rural levy (rural basic plus rural supplemental) at just under $3.70 and estimated the total tax asking across funds in recent presentations at roughly $38.9 million after stepwise reductions from earlier drafts.

Wiedner reviewed how revaluation affected different property classes: she said commercial properties on average might see smaller increases (about 1.2%), industrial properties showed larger increases in the county's revaluation sample (examples cited roughly 10%), multi-residential values declined in the county's examples, and agricultural values rose modestly. She cautioned these are averages and that individual parcels may differ based on assessor adjustments.

On revenue and spending, Wiedner said just over half of the county's revenue is from taxes, intergovernmental grants make up about 22.7%, and charges for services about 6.4%. Salaries are the largest expense category (about $40 million for FY26); capital spending in FY26 included ARPA-funded projects. By service area, public safety and legal services (including the jail and patrol deputies) are the largest operating categories.

Wiedner also walked through statutory timing: the county uploaded tax-rate information to the Department of Management in early March, mailed required proposed tax notices in mid-March, held the initial levy hearing on March 24, and scheduled the budget adoption hearing for April 20 at 9:00 a.m.; the county must certify the budget with the state by April 30. She noted state changes referenced in the presentation (described in the hearing as House File 718) have altered how levy caps and replacement revenues operate and removed a prior option counties had to file statements to exceed certain levy caps.

Chair opened the floor for questions after the presentation; board members thanked Wiedner and staff for preparing the materials. The board approved the meeting agenda at the session and later moved to adjourn; the board is expected to consider final adoption of the levy and budget at the scheduled April 20 hearing.

Next step: the Board will hear the proposed levy and adopt or amend the FY2027 budget at the April 20, 9:00 a.m. hearing before certifying the budget to the state by April 30.