The Storm Lake City Council spent part of Monday night’s meeting reviewing proposed Fiscal Year 2027 property tax levies, as Finance Director Tyler Gibbons walked council members through the city’s budget outlook during a work session.
Gibbons opened with the city’s guiding principle for the coming year: stability.
For FY27, Storm Lake is proposing no change to the overall tax levy—holding it at about $15.17 per $1,000 of taxable valuation, the same rate as the current fiscal year.
Gibbons said that while some levy components are increasing and others decreasing, the city worked to keep the total rate level.
Gibbons said one of the biggest pieces is the Consolidated General Fund Levy, created under House File 718. The city’s 1.41% non‑TIF taxable growth for FY26‑27 did not trigger the state’s limitation factor, allowing Storm Lake to return to the maximum $8.10 levy.
Insurance costs, however, are rising sharply. The Insurance Levy is proposed at about $0.78, reflecting an 11.73% increase in general property and liability insurance.
Employee benefits show a mixed picture. Health insurance costs decreased slightly—for the first time in two decades—but other benefit categories rose, said Gibbons.
The Employee Benefits Levy is proposed at about $4.98, down from the current year.
On the debt side, the Debt Service Levy remains essentially unchanged at about $1.31. Gibbons noted that Storm Lake’s general obligation debt continues to decline.
City Manager Keri Navratil credited last year’s difficult budget decisions—including position eliminations, program reductions, and operational changes—with putting the city in a stronger financial position today.
Mayor Meg McKeon said those cuts were made without noticeable impacts to public services.
The council will continue budget discussions in the coming weeks as it prepares the full FY2027 budget for approval this spring.
