Housing

Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with information on Maquoketa, Iowa, for a potential housing project or development. The City of Maquoketa, Maquoketa Economic Development, and the Maquoketa Area Chamber of Commerce are very interested in working with anyone from building a single home to installing a new subdivision in our community.

Because of the need for newly constructed single family housing as well as multi-unit housing, the City has offered a number of incentives to stimulate this market. We invite you to "click" on any of the information areas mentioned below to find further information on areas such as:

Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) for Housing.
For housing in Iowa, TIF can be used for both low-to-moderate (LMI) income housing projects and non-LMI projects. TIF for housing can be used for a period of no more than 10 years of tax collections.

If a project is 100% LMI, the tax-increment derived from TIF can be used to finance both public infrastructure and the housing units themselves.

If the housing development is not used on a 100% basis for low-to-moderate income people, then TIF can only be used to help finance public infrastructure: streets, water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, etc. In Iowa, a portion of the tax-increment that is generated by a housing development must be devoted to benefit LMI citizens. If the number of living units on-site do not reflect the percentage of LMI citizens in the county, then a proportional amount of tax-increment for those not represented must be spent on LMI citizens who live off-site.

In the case of Maquoketa, which is in Jackson County, Iowa, the percentage of LMI citizens in the County is 40%. Therefore, using the example of a housing development that has 0% LMI, 40% of all tax-increment generated by a development would have to be devoted to LMI people who live elsewhere within the city or county. 60% of the tax-increment could be used on-site to help pay for public improvements.

Tax Exemption (Urban Revitalization) for Housing.
The City has also instituted an housing revitalization program that can be used to provide 3-year, 100% tax exemptions/abatements on the first $75,000 of new taxable value on new or improved single family homes. In Maquoketa, most of the entire City Limits have been declared an "Urban Revitalization Area for Single Family Housing." Please see this web site's section on our Housing Revitalization Program on our Economic Development Page.

Enterprise Zone for Housing.
Jackson County is one of the few counties in Iowa that is allowed to create enterprises zones for industry and housing. The biggest advantage offered by this incentive is a 100% rebate of all sales taxes paid on construction materials involved in a qualified housing project. In the case of Maquoketa, the entire City Limits has been declared an "Enterprise Zone." Please see this web site's section on our Enterprise Zone Program on our Economic Development Page.