SOLON — As required by state law the Solon City Council held a public hearing on the property tax levy for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget Wednesday, April 3 prior to their regular meeting.
For FY25, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2025, the city will impose a tax of $11.21346 per $1,000 of taxable valuation on property owners, with a total taxable valuation of $172,716,808 as determined by the Johnson County Assessor. City Administrator Cami Rasmussen told the council the total valuation is up 6% over last year. She noted Solon has had the third-lowest property tax levy in Johnson County since 2018.
Rasmussen explained how the funds generated by property tax are distributed.
$7.86408 ($1,236,673 total) goes to the city’s general fund for fire protection (through the Solon Tri-Township Fire Dept.), law enforcement services (provided under contract by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office), streets, parks, the city’s contribution to the Solon Public Library, the city’s recreation dept., financial administration, legal fees/services, engineering fees/services, elections, and garbage. “A lot comes out of that general fund levy. That $1.2 million gets spread out on a lot of departments.” Rasmussen added the general fund levy decreased from $8.10 due to the Iowa Legislature’s House File 718, which limits cities’ taxation.
$1.17 goes for the city’s property insurance levy, $.64 is allocated toward city employees’ FICA and IPERS (Iowa Public Employees Retirement System), $.86 goes to employee benefits, and $.67.5 makes up the city’s capital improvement levy.
The city council will hold a public hearing on the full FY25 budget Wednesday, April 24 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall (101 N. Iowa St.)
Editor’s note – For a detailed explanation of the city’s FY25 budget and impacts on the taxpayer, see City Administrator Cami Rasmussen’s three-part series. Part 1 ran in the March 28 edition, Part 2 ran last week (April 4), and Part 3 is in this week’s edition.