The Linn County Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved a $157.1 million balanced budget for fiscal year 2025 following five months of public meetings and three public hearings. Linn County’s 2025 fiscal year runs July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
Linn County’s budget funds a variety of critical public services such as public safety; health and social services; roads and transportation; veteran services; programs to assist children, families, and seniors; parks and conservation; building code enforcement; medical examiner services; and maintaining public buildings, among others.
To maintain current service levels while meeting rising costs, the FY25 budget increases the countywide levy (property tax) rate by 11 cents from $5.96 per $1,000 of taxable value to $6.07. Three of the 11 cents are from an increase in debt service payments due to the issuance of voter-approved Water and Land Legacy bonds. To minimize the levy increase, the Board of Supervisors worked with Linn County’s other elected officials and department heads to cut $1,162,063 from the FY25 budget.
“This was a challenging budget year where we had to make difficult decisions, but I believe we rose to those challenges as a board and as a county,” Linn County Supervisor Chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt said. “This is a compromised, balanced budget where no one got everything they wanted. We worked together to create the best budget that maintains a level of excellence for the people of Linn County while staying mindful that these are people’s hard-earned dollars. We are committed to maintaining our level of excellence in services because they are part of the reason Linn County is a great place to live and raise a family.”
The FY25 rural levy rate, which is in addition to the countywide levy rate for residents who live in unincorporated Linn County, decreased to $2.63 from $2.71 in FY24 and includes a reduction of one dollar for rural residents from the Local Option Sales Tax allocation. This reduction is a result of 25% of the Local Option Sales Tax revenue that provides property tax relief in unincorporated areas.
The residential rollback, which is determined annually by the Department of Revenue, decreased to 46.3% in FY25 from 54.7% percent last year. The rollback is the percent of a home’s assessed value that is taxed. In Cedar Rapids, the average residential assessment increased 15%. Based on this average, 66% of residential properties in Cedar Rapids will see a decrease in the Linn County portion of their property tax bill, while 34% of residential properties will see an increase in the Linn County portion of their property tax bill.
Outside of Cedar Rapids, the average residential assessment increased 25%. Based on this average, 24% of non-Cedar Rapids residential properties will see a decrease in the Linn County portion of their property tax bill, while 76% of non-Cedar Rapids residential properties will see an increase in the Linn County portion of their property tax bill.
Commercial businesses will see an average increase of 16.2% in the Linn County tax portion due to an average increase in assessed value of 14.5% and an increase in the countywide levy rate. There is no change in the state rollback for commercial properties.
Agricultural properties in Linn County will see a 3.9% increase in the Linn County tax portion due to an average increase in assessed value of 32% and an increase in the countywide levy rate, coupled with a change in the state rollback.
Despite a list of more than $670,000 in new general fund requests from departments to enhance services and meet growing needs, no requests were funded this year. This is the second year since Linn County implemented Budgeting for Outcomes in fiscal year 2012 that the County was not able to fund new or expanded services for residents.
Despite challenges, Linn County’s FY25 budget maintains critical services, including public safety, health and human services, motor vehicle registration, voter services, veteran programs, secondary road maintenance and improvements, and necessary capital improvements, among others.
The ending fund balance in Linn County’s general fund remains at 25% of general fund expenditures as required for cash flow purposes, emergencies, and to maintain the County’s Aaa bond rating.
“I voted for this budget because a “no” vote on my part would appear that we had no compromise – and we did compromise,” Supervisor Louis J. Zumbach said. “However, I do believe we could have done better, especially when it comes to funding our own needed and statutory departments over organizations that are not part of Linn County government. We spent a lot of time developing this budget, and I appreciate the compromises that we all made.”
“This was a compromise budget where we had to make difficult spending cuts and strategic spending decisions. Compromise is something that’s expected at the local level,” Supervisor Ben Rogers said.
Distribution of Property Taxes
Linn County government taxes make up approximately 15% of the overall property tax bill for residents living in one of Linn County’s cities. The remaining 85% of property taxes are collected by the city of residence, school district, and other taxing bodies in the county. Linn County taxes represent slightly more than one-third of property taxes for rural residents.
To see the exact dollar amount and percentage of property taxes going to each taxing jurisdiction, property owners can visit Linn County’s property tax collection and distribution website at https://treasurer-linncounty-gis.hub.arcgis.com/ and enter their address in the online search tool. The site includes interactive maps, a dashboard, and charts that show countywide property tax statistics, the tax bill cycle, property tax levy rates for all taxing jurisdictions in the county, and where their property tax dollars go. Linn County debuted this online tool last year to provide increased transparency in the property tax collection and distribution process. A link to this website is also provided at LinnCountyIowa.gov.
Linn County’s fiscal year 2025 runs July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
FY25 Linn County Budget Summary:
• No increases in operations aside from unavoidable increases, such as contracts and materials
• Budget of $157.1 million – an increase of $6.4 million or 1.2% from FY24 due to increases in personnel costs, elections, software contracts, utilities, and debt service payments due to the issuance of voter-approved Water and Land Legacy bonds
• Property taxes make up 51% of Linn County’s budget.
• Linn County government taxes make up approximately 15% of the overall property tax bill for residents living in one of Linn County’s cities.
• The countywide levy rate increased to $6.07 from $5.96 in FY24. This increase was necessary to maintain current services while meeting rising costs. Three of the 11 cents are from an increase in debt service payments due to the issuance of voter-approved Water and Land Legacy bonds.
• The rural levy rate decreased to $2.63 from $2.71 in FY24 and includes a reduction of one dollar for rural residents from Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) allocation as voted on by rural residents.
• Cedar Rapids – average residential assessment increase of 15%
o 66% of residential properties will see a decrease in Linn County tax portion
o 34% of residential properties will see an increase in Linn County tax portion
• Non-Cedar Rapids – average residential assessment increase of 25%
o 24% of residential properties will see a decrease in Linn County tax portion
o 76% of residential properties will see an increase in Linn County tax portion
• Commercial businesses will see an average increase of 16.2% in Linn County tax portion due to an average increase in assessed value of 14.5% and an increase in the countywide levy rate. There is no change in the state rollback.
• Agricultural properties in Linn County will see a 3.9% increase in Linn County tax portion due to an average increase in assessed value of 32% and an increase in the countywide levy rate, coupled with a change in the state rollback.
• Local Option Sales Tax revenue of $3.8 million is budgeted for road construction; $1.9 million for Conservation projects; and $1.9 million in property tax relief for rural residents.
• The ending fund balance in Linn County’s general fund remains at 25% of general fund expenditures as required for cash flow purposes, emergencies, and to maintain the County’s Aaa bond rating.
• Linn County’s 2025 fiscal year runs July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
Linn County adopts Fiscal Year 2025 Budget
April 25, 2024