How Melbourne is run
Melbourne spent $865,000 in the year to June 30, 2022, about $1,087 per resident.
What stands out about how Melbourne is run
Read from the town’s budget, meetings and records. The page puts what stands out first.
About $1,087 per resident a year, or $2.98 a day
The biggest line: water & other utilities, at 25% of spending.
Thank you for being a neighbor
Who runs Melbourne
From public records, which can lag behind an election. Tell us if a name is out of date.
The typical homeowner pays $1,655 a year
Every local property tax on the home: town, schools and county. About 1.06% of the home’s value, vs 1.39% across Iowa.
Typical yearly bill next door and statewide
The Housing page’s calculator splits a monthly payment into loan, tax and insurance at Melbourne’s rate.
Can I afford it? →The median bill homeowners report to the Census survey (bills of $10,000+ are reported as “$10,000+”). The effective rate is that bill ÷ the median home value: a rough guide, not the official tax rate. In a town this small the estimate has a wide margin.
West Marshall Community School District
Melbourne’s K–12 school district, shared with Clemons, Rhodes, St. Anthony, State Center. It’s its own government, with a budget separate from the town’s.
Of the $11,528 per pupil, $6,796 goes to the classroom (teachers, aides, supplies); the rest to buses, buildings, counselors and administration. Building projects and debt payments aren’t in the per-pupil figure.
Iowa districts overall: 43% local, 49% state, 8% federal.
School year 2023–24. Census Bureau school finance survey.
One full-time town employee for every 199 residents
On the payroll in March 2022.
By department full-time, plus part-time
Pay is March payroll times twelve, so it’s approximate. Part-timers count half in the bar lengths.
From town hall to Washington
Every level of government that speaks for Melbourne.
- 1Your cityMayor & council
- 2Iowa HouseState representatives
- 3Iowa SenateState senator
- 4GovernorStatewide
- 5U.S. HouseYour representative in Congress
- 6U.S. SenateBoth represent all of Iowa
Democrat · Republican · other or independent. Tap a name for their official page.
Reach Melbourne’s government
Numbers and hours come from neighbors and the town’s own site (the Handbook). A new one goes live once two neighbors confirm it.
Questions about how Melbourne is run?
Neighbors who’ve been to the meetings can help.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Budget and staff: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments and Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances and the Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll. School district: Census school finance survey. Property tax: Census American Community Survey, 5-year estimates. Officials: Open States and Wikidata. Representatives: Open States, the Census and congress-legislators.