MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City last night held a public hearing on the proposed maximum property tax levy for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget that begins on July 1st. The city was required to hold the hearing as part of the budget process.
The proposed levy is $13.97 per $1000 assessed valuation, which is down slightly from the current budget year. Notices were sent out to property owners recently that are deceptive because of the way the state makes cities and counties use a generic form which can make it look like there would be a double-digit increase in your property taxes when there is not.
City finance director Brent Hinson says the city sent out follow-up information to try to show people there was not a double-digit increase. “If you take a look at the fine print that they have in the notice, it is based on your assessment increasing by 10%, which assessments in Mason City did not increase by 10%. They actually on average increased by 0.6%. It’s going to depend on the individual property of course. This was not a reassessment year, so most residential property owners did not actually have an increase in their assessment.”
Hinson says city leaders are working with legislators on how to make the property tax process less confusing. “Certainly this 12.5% just isn’t correct for the vast, vast majority. It really is the 0.8% total asking, but then it’s going to differ property to property depending on did the assessment change or did the assessment stay the same.”
The council in a separate action set the public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2026 budget for their April 15th meeting.
