Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 384.26 (2026)

General obligation bonds for general purposes

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section IA-LEGlegis.iowa.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

1. A city which proposes to carry out any general corporate purpose within or without its corporate limits, and to contract indebtedness and issue general obligation bonds to provide funds to pay all or any part of the costs of a project, must do so in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter.

2. a. The council shall publish notice of the proposal to issue the bonds, including a statement of the amount and purpose of the bonds, a statement of the estimated cost of the project for which the bonds are to be issued, and 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. The notice shall be published as provided in section\n\nTue Dec 09 22:13:32 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 384 (48, 2) §384.26, CITY FINANCE 24\n\n362.3 with the minutes of the meeting at which the council adopts a resolution to call a special election to vote upon the question of issuing the bonds. The cost of the project, as published in the notice pursuant to this paragraph, is an estimate and is not intended to be binding on the council in later proceedings related to the project.

b. Before the council may institute proceedings for the issuance of bonds for a general corporate purpose, it shall call a special election to vote upon the question of issuing the bonds. At the election the proposition must be submitted in the following form: Shall the ................................................ (insert the name of the city) issue its bonds in an amount not exceeding the amount of $................ for the purpose of ........................................?

3. a. All elections held pursuant to this section shall be held on the date specified in section 39.2, subsection 4, paragraph “d”.

b. Notice of the election must be given by publication as required by section 49.53 in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. At the election the ballot used for the submission of the proposition must be in substantially the form for submitting special questions at general elections.

4. The proposition of issuing general corporate purpose bonds is not carried or adopted unless the vote in favor of the proposition is equal to at least sixty percent of the total vote cast for and against the proposition at the election. If the proposition of issuing the general corporate purpose bonds is approved by the voters, the city may proceed with the issuance of the bonds.

5. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 2, a council may, in lieu of calling an election, institute proceedings for the issuance of bonds for a general corporate purpose 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 city at least ten days prior to the meeting at which it is proposed to take action for the issuance of the bonds subject to the following population-based limitations, adjusted and published annually in January by the department of management by applying the percentage change in the consumer price index for all urban consumers for the most recent available twelve-month period published in the federal register by the United States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics:

(1) In cities having a population of five thousand or less, in an amount of not more than five hundred twenty thousand dollars.

(2) In cities having a population of more than five thousand and not more than seventy-five thousand, in an amount of not more than nine hundred ten thousand dollars.

(3) In cities having a population in excess of seventy-five thousand, in an amount of not more than one million three hundred thousand dollars.

b. Each city’s population used to determine the limitations of paragraph “a” shall be determined by the greater of the city’s population during the most recent federal decennial census or the most recent population estimate produced by the United States census bureau.

c. If at any time before the date fixed for taking action for the issuance of the bonds, a petition is filed with the clerk of the city in the manner provided by section 362.4, asking that the question of issuing the bonds be submitted to the registered voters of the city, the council 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 the preceding subsections of this section.

d. If no petition is filed, or if a petition is filed and the proposition of issuing the bonds is approved at an election, the council may proceed with the authorization and issuance of the bonds. [C73, §461; C97, §727, 741-4, 852 – 855; S13, §727, 741-q, -r, -v, -w2, 850-c, -e, -f, 1306-d, -e; SS15, §696-b, 741-f, -g, -h, 879-r, -s; C24, 27, §5793 – 5795, 5800 – 5804, 5902, 6241, 6244 – 6246, 6248; C31, 35, §5793 – 5795, 5800 – 5804, 5902, 5903-c5, 6241, 6244 – 6246, 6248; C39, §5793 – 5795, 5800 – 5804, 5902, 5903.05, 6241, 6244 – 6246, 6248, 6261.1; C46, 50, §330.7, \n Tue Dec 09 22:13:32 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 384 (48, 2) 25 CITY FINANCE, §384.29\n\n330.8, 370.7 – 370.9, 370.15 – 370.19, 384.3, 407.5, 407.8 – 407.10, 407.12, 408.11; C54, 58, 62, 66, §330.7, 370.7, 384.3, 390.13, 407.5, 407.8 – 407.10, 407.12; C71, 73, §330.7, 370.7, 378A.11, 384.3, 390.13, 407.5, 407.8 – 407.10, 407.12, 408A.1, 408A.2, 408A.6; C75, 77, 79, 81, §384.26] 92 Acts, ch 1138, §6; 95 Acts, ch 67, §53; 2018 Acts, ch 1041, §127; 2023 Acts, ch 71, §132, 136, 150 – 154; 2024 Acts, ch 1043, §89 Referred to in §8.5, 28E.17, 37.6, 357E.11A, 364.4, 384.24, 384.24A, 384.25, 384.28, 384.71, 389.4, 390.5 \n

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1977–2004 · leading case: Rees v. City of Shenandoah, 682 N.W.2d 77 (Iowa 2004).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Rees v. City of Shenandoah, 682 N.W.2d 77 (Iowa 2004). · cites it 6× “Iowa Code § 384.26 (2). *79 The legislature recognized the definitions of city enterprises, essential corporate purposes, and general corporate purposes are not mutually exclusive and shall be construed liberally.”

Grove v. City of Des Moines, 280 N.W.2d 378 (Iowa 1979). · cites it 6× “25, bonds for an essential corporate purpose such as refunding can be issued by a city council itself after public hearing, while under section 384.26 bonds for a general public purpose such as parking facilities require a public election and a sixty-percent affirmative vote.”

Hamilton v. City of Urbandale, 291 N.W.2d 15 (Iowa 1980). · cites it 2× “24(4)(b), The Code (construction of recreation grounds), thus compelling a section 384.26 referendum and a sixty percent voter approval before the general obligation bonds could be issued.”

Dunphy v. City Council of City of Creston, 256 N.W.2d 913 (Iowa 1977). · cites it 2× “Suffice it to say that if this project is reinitiated, the governing body of Crestón must abide by the provisions of chapter 384, The Code, including section 384.26 which regulates special elections held for the purpose of authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds.”

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.