(Radio Iowa) – Voters in this year’s city-school elections will determine the fate of 56 bond proposals that would raise a total of one-point-seven BILLION dollars to build or renovate public facilities for things like schools, fire stations, and libraries.
That calculation comes from the Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation. The group asked Iowa’s 99 counties auditors for information about this year’s city-state elections. Eleven of this year’s bonding proposals are the same or similar to previous plans which got majority support from local voters, but missed the required 60 percent approval in the 2023 or 2024 elections.

The largest bonding proposals are for schools and athletic facilities in the Ankeny, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and West Des Moines School Districts. In addition, voters in a few counties will also decide whether to raise local property taxes to finance ambulance services. Bruce Musgrave is E-M-S director in Calhoun County, where voters are considering an E-M-S tax.

“This would guarantee that when you pick up the phone and call 911, that you would get an ambulance service to be available and respond to you and to your needs,” Musgrave said. “The statement that we are sharing right now: ‘The day that you need an ambulance, it will be too late to vote for one.'” Calhoun County has five ambulances operating today, but Musgrave says the one that serves the Manson area is 27 years old.

“The average life expectancy of an ambulance is 8-10 years,” he said. “Not to mention, it is of the older age, so we can’t do certain updates to the ambulance to stay current.” Musgrave says besides equipment, Calhoun County’s E-M-S agencies would be able to use the funds raised to recruit and retain staff. “Cost — that’s been a big driver for people that can’t afford to go to school, so we’d be able to help with that,” Musgrave says, “and therefore that would allow us to have more personnel, both on the paid and the volunteer side of things.”

In 2022, nearly 59 percent of Calhoun County voters supported an E-M-S property tax levy — but it failed because it needed 60 percent support. Buchanan, Clay and Washington County voters are also deciding whether E-M-S is an essential service that should directly get a constant slice of local property tax revenue. E-M-S referendums already have passed in 21 counties.