DES MOINES, Iowa — According to Ankeny's city manager David Jones, for almost a decade now, the City of Ankeny has been able to decrease their property taxes.
"As a fast-growing community, Ankeny has been blessed over the last number of years to be able to reduce property tax rates, and now nine consecutive years, a total of about an 18% reduction in property tax rates over that time," said, David Jones.
David believes the decrease is due to the city prioritizing the essentials, such as public safety, infrastructure, recreational centers, and both commercial and non-commercial projects.
"Essentially, what we've been able to do, though, is to focus on where our needs are most important and identify those and not to essentially stretch our resources by creeping into services that we can't afford to sustain over the long term," David Jones, said.
These decreases are something makes Chris Cox, an Ankeny homeowner, appreciate about the city he lives in.
"To see the amount of commercial growth then that the city of Ankeny has been able to help facilitate and foster and bring in growth to the community. That's made me really excited to know that they need even less of my money to make that happen," said Chris Cox.
Colin Panzi has been an Ankeny realtor for 10 years and he explained that although lowering property taxes is exciting for some homeowners, there is a catch for others.
"In Ankeny last year, I think there was over a 10% appreciation. So it does help with property taxes, but people are also seeing their assessed values increase," said Colin Panzi.
The city manager says about a decade ago, the mayor and the council really started to take a hard look at the financial situation in Ankeny, and tried to prepare for the future, taking advantage of the city's growth opportunities and investing in capital projects.