Reinbeck council removes property from urban renewal/TIF district, adopts related ordinances

The Reinbeck City Council voted unanimously Feb. 2 to delete property from the city’s Urban Renewal Area and to adopt two ordinances that change how tax increment financing applies in that area.

Councilmember Wambold moved to approve Resolution #2026-04R to remove the property from the Reinbeck Urban Renewal Area; the resolution passed on a 5-0 roll call. Mayor Jamie Eiffler then introduced Ordinance #2026-01OR, described in the meeting as an ordinance deleting property from the tax increment financing (TIF) district pursuant to Section 403.19 of the Code of Iowa. The council gave the ordinance its first consideration, adopted it, and—after a motion to suspend the statutory rule requiring consideration at two separate meetings—put the ordinance on final consideration and adoption the same night. All councilmembers voted aye at each roll call.

The council also considered and adopted Ordinance #2026-02OR, described at the meeting as a repeal of Ordinance No. 99-10-02, which had provided for division of taxes levied on taxable property in the Reinbeck Urban Renewal Area. Wambold moved for first consideration and adoption; later the council voted to suspend the two-meeting rule to allow final consideration and adoption immediately. At every recorded roll call for these measures the five councilmembers (Wambold, Pease, Johnson, Trepp and Bueghly) voted in favor.

Why it matters: removing property from an urban renewal area and changing division-of-tax rules can affect how future property-tax increment is captured or returned to general taxing bodies. At the Feb. 2 meeting the council cited Iowa Code §403.19 in introducing and adopting the ordinance but did not provide additional written findings in the minutes about expected fiscal impact or the specific parcels affected. The minutes record unanimous council approval but do not include further details about the property being removed beyond the formal motions and ordinance numbers.

Next steps: The ordinances were adopted at the Feb. 2 meeting. Any implementation or administrative steps tied to the deletions (for example, tax distribution changes or updated urban renewal maps) were not detailed in the minutes; the council must follow applicable state timelines and local administrative processes for updating records and notifying affected taxing authorities.