Robins special election asks voters to return property tax levy rate to "sustainable" level
ROBINS, Iowa (KCRG) - The city of Robins is holding a special election on Tuesday, March 4th, asking residents to return the City’s property tax levy rate to the 2023 level of $6.57.
In 2023, Robins lowered its property tax levy in 2023 from $6.57 per one thousand dollars of assessed value, down to $4.63. Mayor Chuck Hinz says that’s because the city believed it was getting extra revenue from FEMA, related to derecho damage costs. It later found out the FEMA funds were not extra revenue, but instead paying the city back. Shortly after lowering the rate, state legislators passed a law in May of 2023 preventing a city from raising its General Fund Levy without approval by voters, leaving Robins stuck at the lower rate.
Mayor Hinz says the raise is needed, because the current rate is “unsustainable.”
“We have always been very fiscally conservative, in terms of spending taxpayer dollars and that’s always right in front of us, we think about that all the time,” says Hinz. “We’re not doing this lightly either, but it’s something that we just need to do to continue providing the kinds of services that are needed to provide to the citizens of Robins.”
https://www.kcrg.com/2025/02/20/robins-special-election-asks-voters-return-property-tax-levy-rate-sustainable-level/