Finance Director Jason Schadt says the city and other local governments in Iowa were told last fall by the Department of Revenue that the state rollback for property taxes would be 56 per cent. Then a few weeks ago, the department said that was wrong, and the rollback would be 54 per cent.
"Which doesn't sound like a lot but it removes about 72 million dollars of taxable value off the tax rolls, and the net effect on the budget is about a decrease of 912,000 dollars in property tax revenue."
The Iowa legislature will leave it up to local governments to make up the difference, but might extend the annual March 31st deadline for them to submit their budgets to the state.
"A few positions that were requested we may not fill. We've got some other small areas that revenue could be increased separate from property taxes that we might look at. Bettendorf is in a very strong financial position so we have sufficient reserves to help us deal."
A bill to extend the deadline has been approved by the state senate, and could come up for a vote this week in the Iowa House.
Currently Bettendorf's proposed property tax rate for the fiscal year beginning July lst is 12-dollars and 65 cents per 1,000 dollars assessed value - the same as this year.
