Johnson County approves budget, raising some taxes

IOWA CITY – The Johnson County Board of Supervisors Thursday night unanimously approved a budget for next fiscal year that lowers tax levies but still will result in some property owners paying more in county taxes.

The supervisors voted 5-0 in support of a $76.65 million budget for the year that starts July 1, up from an estimated $72.93 million this year.

The levy for unincorporated areas is $10.09 per $1,000 of taxable value, down from $10.40 this year.

The levy for property in city limits is $7 per $1,000, down from $7.23 this year.

The owners of a $100,000 home in rural areas will pay $8.64 more in county taxes next year compared with this year. In Iowa City, homeowners will pay $5.96 more, and people in other cities will pay $15.22 more.

Owners of $100,000 worth of rural agricultural land will pay $18.40 more in county taxes next year. Other property classifications face varying degrees of changes, including some that decrease. For instance, commercial properties in cities will be charged less in property taxes.

The increase is attributable to increased property valuations and the state raising the percentage of a residential property's value that is taxed, which is known as the rollback.

Supervisors said they were pleased with the budget plan after spending more than a dozen meetings discussing it.

“I think we put together a good budget with the consideration of trying to keep property taxes low,” Sally Stutsman said. “We didn't fund everything but we did fund those things that we thought would enhance the operation of the county.”

(Adam  Sullivan /Sourcemedia Group contributed to this report.)