Part 1 Review:
• All properties within the city are assigned a 100% property value or assessed value by the county assessor then a state Rollback is applied to determine the taxable value of each property.
• Property taxes paid on each property in Solon are distributed among several public agencies with the largest portion to the school district, followed by the city and county.
• Below shows the current year distribution:
FY24
School General/House 16.28035
City General/Special 10.9953
County 6.0618
Area School 1.3955
Assessor 0.24898
Ag Ext Council 0.06954
State of Iowa 0.0018
TOTAL 35.05327
Part 2 Review
• For FY25, $172,716,808 is the total taxable property within the City of Solon with $11.21346 as the proposed levy (tax) per $1000 of taxable valuation (starting July 1, 2024).
• Historically, Solon’s had the third lowest levy rate compared to other cities in Johnson County.
• Property Tax Levy notices mailed in March reflected a percentage change of -13.48 intended to reflect that if the City requested the same tax dollars as the current year (FY24) for FY25, then the city levy rate would decrease -13.48.
• The city is requesting an FY25 Levy rate of 11.21346 vs. the current levy rate of 10.99530. With the FY25 Rollback factored in, the city portion of property taxes per $100,000 of valuation is shown below:
Total FY24 Levy 10.9953 Total FY25 Levy 11.21346
$100,000.00 Assessed Valuation $100,000.00 Assessed Valuation
x54.6501 Rollback x46.3428 Rollback
$54,650.10 Taxable Valuation $46,342.80 Taxable Valuation
x0.0109953 Solon Levy per $1000 x.01121346 Solon Levy per $1000
$600.89 City portion property tax $519.66 City portion property tax
Part 3
Steps in the budget preparation process:
 October: Departments Directors begin work to determine their departments’ needs and expenses for the next budget year. This determines the proposed budget expenditures.
 January 1st : Cities receive the taxable value of the properties within their city which determines the General Fund Levy revenue that provides the majority of revenue for the city budget.
 January & February: The City Council works with city staff toward a balanced budget by evaluating and prioritizing the requested department expenditures.
 April: Public Hearings
 April 3rd FY25 Property Tax Levy Public Hearing
 April 24th FY25 Budget Public Hearing
 Budget due to the state by April 30th
 July 1, 2024 – FY25 Budget begins.
In January and February, the City Council met with each City Department Director to discuss the essential operating needs for their department.
The proposed FY25 expenditures are shown in a separate graphic (FY 25 General Fund Expenditures).
The budget planning for FY25 proved especially challenging for the City Council due to the many changes related to the property tax system because of the House File 718 approved last year by Iowa legislators.  As a result of the new legislation, cities that grew more than 6% had their General Fund levy reduced by 3% and Solon fell into this category.  Limiting a city’s abilities to capture the growth within their town impairs the city to meet the demands related to a growing community.  Positive impacts of House File 718 include an increase of Military and 65 or older exemptions.
In addition to the General Fund, city budgets also include Special, TIF, Debt Service, Capital Project, and Propriety Funds:
v  Special: Trust & Agency (for donations), Road Use (state allocation received), LOST (local option sales tax 1cent)
v  TIF (Tax Increment Financing):  Long term debt and economic development incentives
v  Debt Service:  Bond payments
v  Capital Projects:  Tracking capital projects revenues and expenditures.
v  Proprietary:  Water, Sewer, Storm Sewer – these are considered enterprise funds as they bring in revenue through utility billing and department expenses are paid with funds from the utility bills rather than the General Fund.
The total proposed Revenues for the FY25 Budget for the City of Solon are $6,681,477.
The total proposed Expenditures for the FY25 Budget for the City of Solon are $6,864,964.
The difference between Revenues and Expenditure totals $183,487.  Capital Equipment Reserves will be used to offset the difference.  Funds are set aside annually into Reserve accounts with the intent to help offset the purchase of equipment or other scheduled major purchases.   
Budgeting and planning for larger purchases have been a regular practice of the city. This process has served the city well and ensures that snowplows, dump trucks, and other important city equipment is updated periodically and in good working condition.
Summary
An overview of the budget process:

1. Solon city budget process spans from October through April and involves the city departments researching costs then presenting their budget requests to the City Council.
2. The state of Iowa provides the Rollback percent needed for the county to determine taxable valuations by January 1st.
3. City Council then determines the city levy needed for essential city operations and submits a responsible city budget to the state by April 30^th.  
4. The new FY25 Budget will begin on July 1, 2024.

The City of Solon FY25 proposed budget and this Budget Series can be found on the city website at www.solon-iowa.com