Property Taxpayer Notification Statements

The Auditor's Office has mailed property taxpayer notification statements to Franklin County property owners containing state-specified information about proposed local government budgets and property tax rates. This is following the recent legislative change outlined in Iowa Code 24.2A.

These mailings are not property tax bills but rather informative documents containing proposed city, school district, and county budgets. They do not include proposed budgets for smaller taxing entities, such as the community college, assessor’s office, townships, and agricultural extension service. The information is for taxes payable in September 2025 and March 2026.

The purpose of the statement is to provide taxpayers with information about the proposed city, school district, and county budgets in time for the taxpayers to address the proposals at public hearings held before the budgets are approved. The date, time and location of the hearings are included in the statements. The budgets may be lowered after the public hearings but not raised.

Included in the document is the impact of the proposed city, school and county property tax rates on both residential and commercial properties valued at $100,000 and $300,000. Taxpayers should be aware that the actual impact of these tax rates on their properties could vary significantly from the examples provided, which do not factor in potential changes in assessed values. If the property value was recently reassessed to a higher amount, the example on the statement will not accurately reflect the effect of the valuation increase on the property taxes.

Taxpayers owning more than one property may receive multiple letters if those properties are in different tax districts.

The tax statement you recently received from Franklin County attempts to calculate and illustrate the county’s share of property taxes to be levied on your property. The percentage increase for the upcoming proposed FY 2025/2026 budget year assumes that your property’s assessed value will increase by 10% over the current year’s assessed value. This is an assumption the State of Iowa built into this statement and is a decision which Franklin County has no control.

The actual average increase in Franklin County assessed property value for the FY2025/2026 property tax calculations is as follows:

Rural Agricultural Land and Structures: The average increase in assessed value for this category of property across Franklin County was 1.72%, not 10%. Most properties in this category will have no increase in their assessed values unless improvements were made to the property.

Residential Property: The average increase in assessed value for this category of property across Franklin County was 1.23%, not 10%. Most properties in this category will have no increase in their assessed values unless improvements were made to the property. 

For most property categories listed above: The approximate expected increase in Franklin County’s property tax bill for next year will range from approximately 2.19% to 4.19%, not the inflated State increase reflected on your statement (12.47% or more).  Franklin County is not raising the actual levy rates at all for FY2026.  

If you’d like to see the expected increase in your Franklin County property taxes next year, visit  https://dom.iowa.gov/local-government/citizen-property-tax-guide to calculate your unique property’s taxes with an Excel-based tool. Once there, click on the Citizen Property Tax Estimation Tool, Fiscal Year 2025-2026 to launch the tax calculation spreadsheet.

As always you’re welcome to stop by our office or give me a call and I’m happy to visit with you!  Until next time….