WEBSTER CITY, IOWA — September 4, 2026 — The Hamilton County Growth Partnership (HCGP) is bringing together representatives from Webster City’s major taxing authorities, along with local business and industry leaders, to develop a more coordinated approach to local taxation and ensure Webster City and Hamilton County remain competitive well into the future.
The collaborative effort is one of the goals identified in the Envision Webster City 2030 plan, which calls for local taxing authorities to work together to develop a cohesive tax policy that strengthens the community’s economic competitiveness.
Representatives in the September 3rd meeting include the City of Webster City, Hamilton County, Van Diest Medical Center, Webster City Community School District, and private business and industry.
The group held its initial meeting on March 5, 2026, beginning what HCGP Executive Director Ottie Maxey describes as an important and unprecedented conversation about the community’s collective tax burden and its impact on economic development.
“Each of these organizations has a different mission, different responsibilities and different demands on its resources,” Maxey said. “But we also share a common interest in making Webster City and Hamilton County a competitive place to live, work, invest and do business. Bringing these leaders together allows us to better understand one another’s challenges and look at the overall tax picture from a communitywide perspective.”
Since the group’s initial meeting in March, two significant developments have occurred.
First, the taxing entities serving Webster City residents collectively reduced the total tax rate by 1.39432 in the most recent fiscal cycle. Second, the resulting overall tax burden for Webster City residents is the lowest it has been in the past six years.
Those developments demonstrate the potential value of continued communication and coordination among the community’s taxing authorities.
“This is not about one taxing entity telling another how to operate,” Maxey said. “It is about understanding how our individual decisions affect the overall competitiveness of the community. Businesses and residents don’t experience our tax structure as separate levies. They experience it as one combined tax burden.”
The significance of the collaboration extends beyond the reductions achieved in the most recent fiscal cycle. According to HCGP, the effort represents an opportunity to establish an ongoing process in which taxing authorities and the private sector can openly discuss community priorities, fiscal pressures, capital needs and the relationship between public investment and economic competitiveness.
“To our knowledge, at no other time in recent memory have Webster City’s major taxing authorities come together with private business and industry for this kind of discussion,” Maxey said. “That makes this effort particularly significant. We are learning from one another and working toward a common goal—a competitive combined levy rate that supports the services our community needs while recognizing the importance of remaining competitive for businesses, families and future investment.”
The group plans to convene at least two more times before the certification of budgets for the upcoming fiscal year. Future meetings will continue to examine the community’s overall tax structure, the individual responsibilities of each taxing authority and opportunities for greater coordination.
Maxey emphasized that the initiative is intended to be a long-term effort rather than a one-time exercise.
“The goal is not simply to have one successful budget cycle,” he said. “The goal is to create a culture of communication and collaboration among the organizations that collectively shape Webster City’s tax environment. If we can continue to have these conversations and make decisions with a better understanding of the whole picture, we will be better positioned to compete for businesses, housing, workers and investment in the years ahead.”
The HCGP will continue to facilitate the conversations as part of its broader mission to advance economic and community development throughout Hamilton County.