Tax revenue up, disposable income down

Tax revenues for the city of Marshalltown and Marshall County both improved anywhere from 48 to 50 percent over the last 10 years, but household and per capita income did not keep up at nearly the same pace.

In the city of Marshalltown, property tax revenue increased from $6.15 million in fiscal year 2001 to $9.28 million in 2010. That represents a nearly 50 percent increase in revenue from that one source alone.

The numbers are similar for the entire tax rate across the board, according to Marshall County Treasurer Deane Adams, who said the county has had an increase of 48 percent in the past 10 years.

"That's the increase we are collecting countywide, for schools, cities and everything over the last 10 years," he said.

Though some may tend to blame politicians for such increases, many have worked to keep their levy rates down over time.

For example, the city of Marshalltown is planning to levy $13.93 per $1,000 in taxable valuation over the next fiscal year. Ten years ago, the levy rate was $12.60.

That represents an increase of approximately 10 percent over 10 years, or an average increase in the levy rate of 1 percent annually.

However, property valuations have also increased. In 2000, the total valuation for property in Marshalltown was approximately $525 million, which only included non-exempt property. In 2008, that number was approximately $727 million. That's an increase of slightly less than 40 percent.

Some of that is due to increases in assessments by the county assessor's office. Other growth in that area is attributed to improvements on property, such as new construction.

Exactly how much is attributable to each factor is difficult.

"During that time, I'm sure there's been some change to the tax base," said Marshalltown City Administrator Dick Hierstein. "There are a lot of factors that go into that."

Over the same time period, the per capita income in Marshalltown has increased 17 percent in dollars not adjusted for inflation. According to the U.S. Census Office, Marshalltown's per capita income in 1999 was $19,176. In 2008, it was $22,487, an increase of approximately 17 percent.

Household income followed a similar pattern. In 1999, that income was $38,268 and increased 18.5 percent by 2008 to $45,382.

However, when put into 1999 dollars, the figures actually showed that people in Marshall County had less to spend.

Per capita income in 1999 dollars was $17,400 when compared to the benchmark year, a decrease of approximately 10 percent versus 10 years ago. Household income using the same benchmark was $35,116, which represented approximately an 8-percent decrease.

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Contact Ken Black at 641-753-6611 or kblack@timesrepublican.com

Member Comments

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happygolucky
04-22-10 9:01 PM »Report Abuse	FYI uglicat.. you would be first to complain of about this city not having any jobs if Swift or any other names that they use You will have to learn that YOU are not the only "race" in town. The Hispanics and others are here to stay, and you can not do a d---thing about. HA HA HA If you don't like it.... MOVE...
Puppetmaster
04-22-10 7:46 PM »Report Abuse	80% of the immigrants that are here are migratory workers, period. As with all migratory populations they have little or no stake here and they bring nothing but problems and higher prices across the board to accommodate them. This is well documented and why states like Arizona and Texas want to get rid of them. Close Swifts!!!
bestofbothworlds
04-22-10 7:41 PM »Report Abuse	happy. Why? They would just move to another packing plant town.The population would drop but so would crime and the welfare roles. Special Hispanic schools (can you say Woodbury?) would close and the amount spent for teachers (esp higher priced bi-lingual teachers) would drop. We could close off and maybe abandon the west Main area. This would all save money.
Puppetmaster
04-22-10 7:33 PM »Report Abuse	By many people, do you mean immigrants or business owners? How do you know how much trouble this town would be in? This town is already in trouble in case you havent been paying attention. Income is down, taxes are up, crime is all the rage downtown. When do you abandon a company that is bad for the city? When they sell the entire community to Brazil?
happygolucky
04-22-10 6:08 PM »Report Abuse	puppet.. That is a ridiculous statement that you just made. If Swift's closes it doors, there would be many people our of work. Then this city WOULD be in a lot of troubles.
Puppetmaster
04-22-10 5:56 PM »Report Abuse	Colemans is one of the few that get it. The population hasnt grown but the infrastructure has. High St used to be on the edge of town, now the edge of town stretches beyond the college. This equal 40% more roads, sewers, waterlines, roadways Etc. being supported by the same number of people. As the economy has went south, immigrants were imported to shore up the numbers, Mayor Harthun said it himself "I am being self serving, Marshalltown needs people". This is further proof that mismanagement is KING in Mudville. The best thing that could happen to this town is Swifts closing its doors.
Colemans
04-22-10 5:01 PM »Report Abuse	The population of Marshalltown is lower than it was when I left 40 years ago. Property taxes are regressive to retirees. As the baby boomers retire, and their income goes down, property taxes will become their biggest expense. They will downsize or leave; but either way home values will decline further. Without property tax relief for homeowners, I don’t see a bright future for Marshalltown’s economy.
Lucylu
04-22-10 11:37 AM »Report Abuse	I certainly enjoy reading these posts. It is very entertaining.
Puppetmaster
04-22-10 11:19 AM »Report Abuse	Simply put the Great Depression rose out of corporate and government mismanagement. Government CUT TAXES for corporations to allow them to retain more of their profits, in turn they used the extra money to expand production while maintaining the existing wage levels. Production increased dramatically but because of stagnant wages the workers could not buy the extra production, companies then cut back on the workforce which reduced the ability of more people to buy what the corporations were making and the rest was history. The Same thing is happening today! We are bailing out billion $ corporations instead of letting the free market do its job. Greedy rich people dont create jobs, frugal intelligent people do. There are way to many rich people in this country and not enough intelligent ones. The tax hikes in recent years are nothing more than our payment for government and corporate mismanagement, period. History does repeat itself!!!
happygolucky
04-22-10 11:01 AM »Report Abuse	uglycat.. Attack from east, south, west or north, it makes no difference. I was referring to the east of our county. But, if I want to watch Fox, I guess that is a freedom that we all have. Mark..Another question what is "valution, and "adjustes"????
xgrunt
04-22-10 10:49 AM »Report Abuse	i would think if china called in all its markers and collapsed our dollar that could be considered an attack from the east. arizona has found out about protecting its own boarders due to washingtons blind eye. now before you all jump up and down about obama, bush,slick willie ect... this is not a repub/dem issue. this has been a problem for decades and washington refuses to address it with more than hype and bull. the wage argument is valid. marshalltown has been stagnant since the 70's but refuses to accept that. fishers is a shell of what it was. lennox is just waiting for the roof to fall in so they can move to texas or mexico. el swifts has its own special worker pool to draw from. it would seem the only ones that make a good wage and can count on a raise are county and city employees! taxes are a fact of life but how they are spent seems to be the problem. i wish my business could count on making money even if we failed our customers!
DaleJr
04-22-10 10:47 AM »Report Abuse	It is what it is. Wages are low because they can be and you can bargan all you want. Big brother is in the cat bird seat! If you do not agree see what happens, not pleasant. Property values are not correct but what can you do, same issue.
mtownwatcher
04-22-10 10:42 AM »Report Abuse	Attacked from the east? If Tama County people attack us, they are going DOWN!!!
herkeye
04-22-10 10:31 AM »Report Abuse	I agree with Aporetic...wages are way too low. You can't survive on a "regular" job these days. I have talked to many people that work 2 or 3 jobs to survive. It should not have to be that way! PrettyChuck - "themselfs" LOL....I have corrected you many times...some people just can't learn! It is "themselves"
Aporetic
04-22-10 9:52 AM »Report Abuse	AA, the "real story" is that wages in Marshalltown have not kept up with inflation. It's not smoke and mirrors it's economics, and Marshalltown doesn't exist in some magical land walled off from the rest of the world where the laws of economics don't apply. The City and County have expenses that have to be paid in the real world that doesn't change its prices because Marshall County wages have been largely stagnant for a decade.
mark12
04-22-10 9:42 AM »Report Abuse	CAN YOU SAY OUR VALUTIONS ARE WAY-WAY TO HIGH, HOW MANY HOMES ARE SELLING FOR LESS THAN THERE VALUTION----ITS TIME MARSHALLTOWN-MARSHALLCOUNTY ADJUSTES THE VALUE OF OUT HOME!!
happygolucky
04-22-10 9:09 AM »Report Abuse	MARIE... Maybe we are going to be attacked from the east. I am on retirement, and I may have to sell my home (of many years) because of the increases of taxes. I do not know if if is possible to sell any home in this city.
Johnson
04-22-10 8:18 AM »Report Abuse	From “Branstad calls for tax cuts for Iowa businesses”, April 6th: “Commercial property is now taxed at 100 percent of its value, and Branstad's proposal calls for reducing that to 65 percent for new businesses. He would phase in the lower rate for all commercial property ‘over four or five years.’” Guess who will make up the difference? That’s right, you homeowners!
MarieF
04-22-10 8:01 AM »Report Abuse	I agree that property taxes are too high in Marshall County, But I'm curious, AverageAmerican, what borders do our city and county have to defend? I hope it's a border with a county I don't go to very often.
AverageAmerican
04-22-10 6:58 AM »Report Abuse	The real story is the government steals a lot more of your money every year... Small tax rate increase are the smoke, increasing valuations (known as BUBBLES), fees, and inflation are the mirrors. The net effect is taking a lot more money from average Iowans, and complete incompetence in basic functions like defending borders and sound money.
InstantKarma
04-22-10 6:34 AM »Report Abuse	IMO, this is a poor angle to take for this story. The revenue is either increased by either a)increasing the valuation and keeping or even lowering the tax rate or b)raising the tax rate and risking the voter wrath's. I used to get a post card to tell me my new valuation and how to challenge it, but now I just get the tax bill. This is just an example of the government taking a bigger and bigger share of the pie.

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