Fort Dodge officials are facing a half-million dollar deficit in the city’s general fund as they prepare the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

That deficit is in the property-tax supported account that pays for police and fire protection, recreation programs, the library, the Blanden Memorial Art Museum, the Fort Dodge Regional Airport and many other government functions.

It is a notoriously difficult fund to balance.

City Manager David Fierke told the City Council Monday that there will be a property tax levy of $8.54 per $1,000 of taxable value to support the general fund.

But there are factors that limit how much money that levy can generate.

The state has a formula called the rollback that determines how much of a property’s value can be taxed. Thanks to the rollback, property owners will only pay taxes on 44 percent of their property’s value. Fierke said that is the lowest that the rollback has been since 2008 or 2009.

He said that various property tax exemptions provided by the state will cost the city $100,000 in lost revenue.

On Monday evening, the council took a look at the proposed budgets for the two biggest agencies in the general fund — the police and fire departments.

The proposed police budget is $4,218,204.34.

That’s up from the current $4,101,602.

Fierke said the proposed budget envisions a full staff of 40 officers, although the department doesn’t have that many right now.

The department would buy two new patrol vehicles and some body armor in the proposed budget.

The proposed Fire Department budget is $3,902,161.28.

That’s up from the current $3,581,930.

The ambulance service provided by the Fire Department has a separate budget and the proposed spending plan envisions a healthy increase based on revenue from the essential service tax Webster County voters approved in March 2025. That levy is 75 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.

The proposed ambulance budget is $2,296,889, up from the current $1,193,988.

Today, the Webster County Board of Supervisors will consider agreements with Fort Dodge and other cities in the county for distribution of the money from the new tax.

Fierke projected that Fort Dodge will receive about $1.2 million from that tax in the fiscal year that begins July 1.