Frequently Asked Questions

Property tax payments are payable July 1 and delinquent after September 30 for the first half and March 31 for the second half. View our Property Tax page for full details.

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The short answer is no. Not the same percentage up and/or down. All property classes pay taxes on a percentage of the assessed value. This is referred to as Assessment Limitation or Rollback. The current Rollback percentage for 2024 values is 73.86% for agricultural, 47.43% for residential. For commercial & industrial, it is 47.4316% for the first $150,000 of assessed value, then 90% for the value that exceeds $150,000.

The total taxable value for a classification, such as residential, can only increase 3% statewide. In the fall of this year, the Iowa Department of Revenue will determine what percentage of the assessed value is taxable. With the 2025 changes in assessed values increasing statewide, we anticipate these rollback percentages to decrease very similarly to what occurred in 2023.

As an example, we can review exactly what occurred in 2023 from a 23% overall increase in Clayton Co. This example assumes a taxing district does not adjust its levy rate.

If a taxing jurisdiction does not adjust their levy rate accordingly to valuation changes, they will be taxing more or less depending on overall taxable value changes.

The entire state has seen dramatic increases in the real estate market over the last 4 years. Ultimately, we do not know how an individual’s taxes will be affected as we do not know the tax levy, the exact state rollback, or legislative changes that will take place.

The assessment process could decrease values by 25%, but the taxable value will still want to increase by 3% each year. Rollback will continue to rise until it reaches 100%.

Example of decreases in values.

This shows that even if the assessments decreased, the rollback % will adjust, and the taxable and taxes would not change to the same percentage as the assessment. What this means is that ultimately, Levy Rates are what determine taxes. The assessment process is a base to maintain equity in properties, so taxes are a fair share.

This process is called equalization and is intended to adjust the values of all property within a class according to sales & data of those like and similar properties. The sales & data used are from and applied within Clayton County only. The Iowa Code states that all property must be valued at market value in odd-numbered years. Agricultural property is valued on productivity. This will be happening throughout the state for 2025. If an assessor does not adjust the values and the data shows they should have, the Iowa Department of Revenue will increase them in the fall of 2025 in an equalization order. The assessment process wants to stay away from these orders as they are a flat increase/decrease to properties and not as accurate of a representation of each district within the county. Since 1975, assessments have been at market value by Iowa code. In a mass appraisal system, it is certainly possible that an individual property may have been assessed too low or too high.

The assessor’s office does not control the increase or decrease of equalization, as it’s dictated by the current market and regulated by the state. Therefore, we can’t argue the percent increase as it’s set by the actual sales from a prior year.

Sales from the jurisdiction are used to determine the total value that is required for an entire classification. The sales are compared to the assessments and a sales ratio is created. If a home sells for $250,000 and is assessed at $200,000, that is an 80% sales ratio, or under-assessed by 25%. All normal arm’s length sales for the year are considered and approved by the Iowa Department of Revenue and a median (middle) sale is used to determine what the increase will be to ALL property in that class. The assessor’s office does not determine what properties are being sold or purchased at. That is determined by the seller and buyer and reported on their Declaration of Value submitted to the state. Ultimately, your property’s assessed value is dictated by how all other property sells. That’s why it’s important to view actual sales and listings to see how they compare to the assessment of that given property. For assessments to decrease or maintain the same value in this process, we would need to see most of the sales less than or at the assessed values.

This is a similar situation to the question above. While making changes such as new construction to a property can increase or decrease the value of that individual property, the sales information from a jurisdiction indicates what occurred in the market. Since the assessor is required to be at market value on all property, if the market indicates that housing prices increased, it is likely that most properties would have to increase.

An assessor uses the information from the sales in their jurisdiction to determine changes. This often means the entire class of property will need to increase a certain amount, but the assessor also looks at other information from those sales and applies that information to their mass appraisal system. One town may have had sales that showed the town required a greater increase than another town. Same situation for urban property compared to rural property. Also, the assessor updates the cost manual, depreciation tables, and land rates, which depending on the type of construction, year built, and location/size of land, can make small differences.

The assessment process is a mass appraisal system and is not a perfect process for each individual property. Ideally, we want to be within 5% of market value. We understand properties change over time, both up and down, because of physical, economical, and other changes. With 30,000+ parcels, we are only as accurate as the listing information on each parcel, and we don’t site visit each parcel every year. It is important that you know what the value of your individual property is before we assume this. We recommend that an owner consider the following:

1. Review your property listing information either on Beacon, or you can request a Property Record Card from Andy or Tammy.
2. Consider increases in cost & replacement cost, new economic supply & demand in the area, and new construction of similar property.
3. Review sales & listings of similar properties. Sites like Zillow and Realtor.com show current and past listings. Beacon has a Comp Search feature in Comparables that can find like & similar properties. There is also a sales list of the 2024 sales in Clayton Co available on Beacon in the announcements.
4. If you have good information compiled from sales, comparable property, or even an appraisal from 2023 or 2024, we can use that in an informal process or can be used to file an appeal to the Board of Review for their consideration.

No. Property owned by railroads and utility companies is valued by the Iowa Department of Revenue and certified for taxation to the county auditor. For more information, please call the Auditor's Office at 563-245-1106.

Any property owner or aggrieved taxpayer who is dissatisfied with the assessment may file a protest against such assessment with the Board of Review on or after April 2, to and including April 30 of the year of the assessment. The Board of Review meets for hearings during the month of May. The Board of Review petition form is available at the Beacon site under the Announcements. The protest must be confined to one or more of the following grounds:

1. That said assessment is not equitable as compared with like/similar property.
2. That property is not assessed at the value authorized by law. Market value stated.
3. That the property is misclassified or exempt.
4. That there is an error in the assessment.
5. That there is fraud or misconduct in the assessment, which shall be specifically stated.

The Board of Review or the Assessor's office does not hear appeals on taxes.

The Rollback Rate is an annual statewide rate set annually for each property class by the Iowa Department of Revenue. In effect, the rate of growth in value for a given property class may be limited by the rate of growth in value of another property class. Somewhat similar to two people tied together in a three-legged race, neither property class can get too far ahead of the other one. For more information, please call the Auditor's Office at 563-245-1106.

The Iowa Department of Revenue imposes equalization orders in odd-numbered years against each property class for each local assessor. Sometimes called “the assessor’s report card,” the equalization order is used to increase or decrease 100% actual values when those values are not sufficiently accurate. For more information, please call the Auditor's Office at 563-245-1106.

The Department receives a copy of the Declaration of Value required to be filed with the county recorder when real estate is sold. Actual sales values are then compared to the Assessor’s 100% actual values. For more information, please call the Auditor's Office at 563-245-1106.

Taxable value is the value used to calculate taxes and on which the tax askings of the various Levy Authorities are based. For more information, please call the Auditor's Office at 563-245-1106.

Taxable value for most property is calculated by multiplying the Rollback Rate for the correct property class by the equalized 100% actual value. Taxable value for gas and electric utility property is calculated by the Iowa Department of Revenue. One exception is agricultural land within an incorporated city. City ag land is subject to a different tax levy rate limit than other property classes within a city, and ag land parcels are assigned to a separate city ag tax district. The result is that the various ag parcels within a city ag tax district do not have to be geographically contiguous. For more information, please call the Auditor's Office at 563-245-1106.