Black Hawk County approves FY27 budget and tax plan

The table below shows the estimated tax impact of the FY27 increase across various property classes:

Property class – FY 2027 tax impact

Residential urban: +3.03%

Agricultural: +1.61%

Residential rural: +3.41%

Commercial: +1.21%

Industrial: +10.24%

Note: Figures reflect sample impacts and vary based on individual property valuations and levy components.

During the meeting, board members emphasized their commitment to minimizing the impact on taxpayers, even as recent state-level changes made this year's budgeting process more challenging. They worked closely with each department to keep any increases as low as possible while still ensuring the county can meet essential service needs.

As the fifth-largest county in Iowa by population, Black Hawk County ranked eighth in total tax askings based on the FY 2026 budgets, while maintaining the sixth-highest overall property valuations, demonstrating a balanced approach to economic stewardship and public service delivery.

During the presentation, Finance Director Michelle Weidner outlined several key decisions made by the Board that helped limit the tax increase. These include:

• Funding capital projects through general reserves or using general obligation bonds, minimizing direct impact on taxpayers.
• Tax-funded full-time positions were increased by 0.5 FTE. We also added one part-time position, three grant-funded positions, and 0.48 intern positions.
• Department-wide efforts to reduce expenses wherever possible.

Weidner also provided context by comparing the cumulative inflation rate over the past 10 years, 34.22%, to the county property taxes during the same period.