The 2019 Iowa Legislative Session has officially adjourned. A debate filled week closed in the Iowa House, according to Representative Dustin Hite. He says one of his biggest responsibilities this session was being the floor manager for property tax reform legislation. This legislation went through many different drafts and titles, but the final version that passed was Senate File 634. Hite says throughout the process he was focused on transparency.

“When a person’s property taxes increase, an elected official will have voted for that increase and will not be able to blame the tax increase on rising assessments. The ultimate version that was passed by both houses came along way from the original bill because I worked with cities and counties to address their concerns, but I wanted to keep the focus on transparency.”

He says if the city or county is not going to increase tax revenues, they will have to discuss the new levy rate based on new valuation. The council or board of supervisors will then vote on where to take that levy within the current system. In addition, the bills requires public notice online. Hite says opponents allege the bill was aimed at hurting towns and would impact IPERS, but says those claims have been disputed after cities had a voice in the process and IPERs mentioned no impacts were anticipated.