Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 331.443 (2026)

Essential county purpose bonds

✓ current as of July 2026

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1. A county which proposes to carry out an essential county purpose within or without its boundaries, and to contract indebtedness and issue general obligation bonds to provide funds to pay all or any part of the cost of a project shall do so in accordance with this part.

2. Before the board may institute proceedings for the issuance of bonds for an essential county purpose, a notice of the proposed action, including a statement of the amount and purposes of the bonds, an estimate of the annual increase in property taxes as the result of the bond issuance on a residential property with an actual value of one hundred thousand dollars, and the time and place of the meeting at which the board proposes to take action for the issuance of the bonds, shall be published as provided in section 331.305. At the meeting, the board shall receive oral or written objections from any resident or property owner of the county. After all objections have been received and considered, the board, at that meeting or a date to which it is adjourned, may take additional action for the issuance of the bonds or abandon the proposal to issue the bonds. Any resident or property owner of the county may appeal the decision of the board to take additional action to the district court of the county, within fifteen days after the additional action is taken, but the additional action of the board is final and conclusive unless the court finds that the board exceeded its authority. The provisions of this subsection with respect to notice, hearing, and appeal, are in lieu of any other law.

3. a. Notwithstanding subsection 2, a board may institute proceedings for the issuance of bonds for an essential county purpose specified in section 331.441, subsection 2, paragraph “b”, subparagraph (18) or (19), in an amount equal to or greater than three million dollars by causing a notice of the proposal to issue the bonds, including a statement of the amount and purpose of the bonds, together with the maximum rate of interest which the bonds are to bear, and the right to petition for an election, to be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation within the county at least ten days prior to the meeting at which it is proposed to take action for the issuance of the bonds.

b. If at any time before the date fixed for taking action for the issuance of the bonds, a petition is filed with the county auditor, signed by eligible electors of the county equal in number to twenty percent of the persons in the county who voted for the office of president of the United States at the last preceding general election that had such office on the ballot, asking that the question of issuing the bonds be submitted to the registered voters of the county, the board shall either by resolution declare the proposal to issue the bonds to have been abandoned or shall direct the county commissioner of elections to call a special election upon the question of issuing the bonds. Notice of the election and its conduct shall be in the manner provided in section 331.442.

c. If a petition is not filed, or if a petition is filed and the proposition of issuing the bonds\n\nTue Dec 09 22:15:27 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 331 (101, 6) 85 COUNTY HOME RULE IMPLEMENTATION, §331.446\n\nis approved at an election, the board may proceed with the authorization and issuance of the bonds. [S81, §331.443; 81 Acts, ch 117, §442] 2009 Acts, ch 100, §11, 21; 2023 Acts, ch 71, §146, 154 Referred to in §37.6, 37.27, 232.142, 331.301, 331.402, 331.441, 359.45 \n

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases, 1992–2002 · leading case: Bowers v. Polk Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, 638 N.W.2d 682 (Iowa 2002).

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Bowers v. Polk Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, 638 N.W.2d 682 (Iowa 2002). · cites it 24× “Iowa Code § 331.443 (2). Before the Board may issue bonds for an essential county purpose, it must publish a notice of the proposed action not less than four and not more than twenty days before the date of the meeting at which the board proposes to take action.”

Stanfield v. Polk Cnty., 492 N.W.2d 648 (Iowa 1992). · cites it 36× “The majority finds that the fifteen-day notice of the transaction (1) substantially complied with Iowa Code section 331.443, and (2) was adequate to bar this action.”

Miller v. Marshall Cnty., 641 N.W.2d 742 (Iowa 2002). · cites it 3× “Iowa Code § 331.443 (2). On the other hand, general county bonds for general county purposes require a special election, unless the board gives public notice of its proposal to issue the bond at least ten days prior to the meeting to take action on the proposal and a petition…”

— Iowa Code § 331.443(1) — 1 case

Bowers v. Polk Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, 638 N.W.2d 682 (Iowa 2002). “Iowa Code § 331.443 (2). Before the Board may issue bonds for an essential county purpose, it must publish a notice of the proposed action not less than four and not more than twenty days before the date of the meeting at which the board proposes to take action.”

— Iowa Code § 331.443(2) — 3 cases

Stanfield v. Polk Cnty., 492 N.W.2d 648 (Iowa 1992). “The majority finds that the fifteen-day notice of the transaction (1) substantially complied with Iowa Code section 331.443, and (2) was adequate to bar this action.”

Miller v. Marshall Cnty., 641 N.W.2d 742 (Iowa 2002). “Iowa Code § 331.443 (2). On the other hand, general county bonds for general county purposes require a special election, unless the board gives public notice of its proposal to issue the bond at least ten days prior to the meeting to take action on the proposal and a petition…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.