LE CLAIRE, Iowa — Cities and counties across Iowa are scrambling to adjust their budgets for next year.
That's because the Iowa Department of Revenue gave communities and local governments the wrong number for calculating property taxes for some Iowans.
This means some Iowa property owners will pay less in property taxes for the fiscal year 2024.
"It is a double-edged sword," said Rodney Collier, a LeClaire resident and business owner for the last 25 years.
Collier believes most residents and commercial property owners will be excited to hear some will pay less in property taxes, but knows there is still work to be done to close the gap.
"On the city level they'll have to adjust, they'll have to adjust quickly and make changes and some things may be sacrificed," Collier said.
"We're expecting maybe anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 of loss on the operating side," said LeClaire City Administrator Dennis Bockenstedt said.
Bockenstedt says even though the city has projected a loss, that number still isn't clear, and Bockenstedt is not sure how much the city budget will need to be adjusted.
"Once we get a firmer number, when we hear from the county and the rollback is calculated, essentially we'll have to go in and look at our operating budgets to see where and how we would make changes," Bockenstedt said.
Those changes could come from one of the biggest parts of the city's project plans: public works.
"Obviously, streets is the majority of the program and be the first place we'd probably look," Bockenstedt said.
Another place for potential cuts could be in operations costs, which includes employee salaries. However, the city is not planning to cut any staff positions because of this budget shortfall, Bockenstedt said.
"When we look at that loss of revenue we have to evaluate well maybe do we cut back on purchasing a new piece of equipment that was budgeted, or is there a delay in filling vacant positions," Bockenstedt said.
Through this uncertainty, though, there is a positive.
"Right now we're not anticipating raising our property tax rate," Bockenstedt said.
Instead, LeClaire is looking for ways to sustain these services and help businesses and the city survive.
"We would look at other ways that I guess would be less noticeable to the delivery of services," Bockenstedt said.
Bockenstedt says money from the speed cameras in town has already been allocated to projects.
Revenue from those cameras could be a funding source to help with short-term budget shortages, but is not sustainable long-term, Bockenstedt said.
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