On April 23, 2024, the Ames City Council approved a Citywide Urban Revitalization Area designation in support of incentives for new ownership housing construction. This new program provides partial property tax abatement for construction of new residential dwellings for qualified owner occupied properties. The program allows for up to $500,000 of improvement value for owner occupied dwellings to be eligible for a five-year partial tax abatement schedule. There is a 3.5 year time period of eligibility with the requirements for improvements to be completed after April 26, 2024 and for a building permit to be issued prior to December 31, 2027.
Applications must be filed by February 1st of the year the improvement value is assessed. In accordance with state law, the City will review and approve all eligible applications in February.
Please review the Application Packet here for more detailed information.(PDF, 278KB)
Follow this Link to Read the Citywide Urban Revitalization Tax Abatement Plan.(PDF, 1MB)
PLEASE NOTE: This property tax abatement is only partial. Property taxes will still be assessed yearly. The property tax abatement does not apply to school district taxes and it does not apply to the value of the land. The abatement is only for the improvements (the building/home) for up to $500,000 of assessed value. Once an application is approved, a property owner will still receive a property tax bill every year.
Year 1 - 100%
Year 2 - 80%
Year 3 - 60%
Year 4 - 40%
Year 5 - 20%
* The abatement does not include school district taxes and it does not apply to the value of the land. The abatement is only for the improvements (the building/home) for up to $500,000 of assessed value.