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Iowa · 2,078 residents

How much does Alta spend?

$4.8M
spent in

In a town this size, a single building project is enough to swing the total from one year to the next.

FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 are budgets the town voted. A year's actual spending is audited and published after it ends; the latest on file is FY2023.

$2,329 per resident · $2,538 in towns its size · $3.3M came in · FY2026 budget voted: $2.9M

In a town this size, a single building project is enough to swing the total from one year to the next.

FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 are budgets the town voted. A year's actual spending is audited and published after it ends; the latest on file is FY2023.

What is Alta's money for?

Click a category to see what it pays for.

By categoryShare of budget against towns of the same size$4.8M

“elsewhere”: what towns the same size usually devoteAlta devotes a larger share of its budgeta smaller share

Shares of the town's counted spending. “Elsewhere”: the median share among the towns of the state closest in population — half give more, half less.

Compare with a town of the same size in Iowa

Alta versus Greenfield
AltaGreenfield
Spending
$2,329 · $4,355 per residenttowns its size: $2,538
Local taxes
$570 · $739 per residenttowns its size: $716
Aid from other governments
$657 · $357 per residenttowns its size: $337
Police, fire and public safety
$140 · $205 per residenttowns its size: $218
Debt
$2,553 · $7,133 per residenttowns its size: $2,911

Per resident, FY2023 accounts, against the towns of Iowa closest in population. A town above or below is not better or worse run.

What it builds, levies and owes

What it builds

$2.5Minvested in FY2023 · $1,221 per resident · +665.9% vs FY2022

The spending the town files as capital projects for FY2023.

Property tax

$12.13per $1,000 of taxable value · set for FY2027 · +5.6% since FY2023

The 20 towns of its size: $13.96 · $1.55 of it repays debt

The city's own levy rate, as certified by the Department of Management, before the county's, the school district's and others' are added to the bill.

What it owes

$5.5Mowed at the end of FY2026 · $2,665 per resident

$2,664 in towns its size · +65.0% since FY2018

Outstanding obligations at June 30, as the city reports them to the Treasurer of State: bonds, notes and loans of every fund.

Voted for FY2026

$2.9MThe budget the town adopted for FY2026, by category. Its actual spending is not on file yet.

By category

Understand

What this page covers

All funds: the budget each city certifies with the state at the start of the fiscal year and what it actually spent, in the same ten functions. Actual spending is published about two years after the budget.

Voted budget and actual spending

The voted budget is what the town approved before the year began. Actual spending is what it paid out, audited and reported to the state after the year ended. The two differ: money set aside is not always spent, and budgets are amended during the year.

Comparing with other towns in Iowa

Each state collects its towns' figures in its own way. Some report the general fund only, others every fund; some include schools and others leave them to separate school districts. Per-resident figures are compared between towns of the same state only. A few cities also do the work of a county — San Francisco and Jacksonville among them — and spend far more per resident than a city of the same size.

Source

Iowa Department of Management — City Budget and Actual Expenditures, and City Budget Expenditures by Fund (certified budgets). The state's records ↗ Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments (population reported with the unit), 2023 file.

Source: Iowa Department of Management — City Budget and Actual Expenditures, and City Budget Expenditures by Fund (certified budgets).