Departments | City Assessor
Property taxes are not determined by a single individual who assesses your property and sends you a bill. The final tax rate is the result of budgets established to provide services, an assessor's assessment, a county auditor's calculations, and laws administered by the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance.
Property assessment involves a series of events that takes 18 months from start to finish; the cycle is outlined below:
1. |
January 1 | Assessment date |
| 2. | April 15 | Assessors complete assessments and notify taxpayers. |
| 3. | April 16-May 5 | Taxpayers may appeal assessments to local boards of review. |
| 4. | May 1-May 31 | Local boards of review consider appeals. This time may be extended to July 15 by the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance director. |
| 5. | June 15 | Local boards of review submit reports to the Revenue and Finance director. |
| 6. | July 1 | Assessors submit abstracts of the assessments to the Revenue and Finance director. |
| 7. | August 15 | The Revenue and Finance director issues tentative equalization notices to county auditors. |
| 8. | September | The Revenue and Finance director holds equalization hearings, which are held for public input. |
| 9. | October 1 | The Revenue and Finance director issues final equalization orders to county auditors. |
| 10. | October 2-12 | Assessing jurisdictions may apply for alternative methods of implementing equalization orders. |
| 11. | October 2-15 | The county auditor publishes notices of the final equalization order. |
| 12. | October 15-November 15 | Local boards of review meet to hear equalization protests. |
| 13. | October 16-26 | Taxpayers may protest the final equalization order to local boards of review. |
| 14. | November 1 | The Revenue and Finance director certifies assessment limitation percentages to county auditors. |
| 15. | November 15 | Local boards of review submit a report about the equalization protests to the department. |
| 16. | December 1-February 28 | The taxing authorities adopt the budgets based on the valuations. |
| 17. | March 1 | The county board of supervisors levies the taxes. |
| 18. | July 1 | The county treasurer receives authorization to collect taxes. |
| 19. | September 30 | First half of taxes are due. |
| 20. | March 31 | Second half of taxes are due. |