County Government and Officials

Counties in Iowa have a dual purpose: to provide state services and to determine local service needs. Elected county officials in Iowa are the board of supervisors, recorder, treasurer, auditor, sheriff, and county attorney. The Board of Supervisors is the only legislative body of county government and appoints the directors for the other offices. Boards of Supervisors in Iowa have either three or five members.

The functions and services of counties can be grouped into three categories:

1. Functions or administrative duties of state government that a county performs
2. Services that are of a local nature
3. Internal administrative functions that a county performs for its own operation or on behalf of other local taxing jurisdictions.

County governments are required to provide a number of state functions that need to be administered much the same way in each county. These functions, and those who generally perform them can be broadly categorized as follows:

• Elections administration—auditor
• Licensing—treasurer, recorder
• Social/Human services—board of supervisors, general relief director, county director of human services, local board of human services.
• Recording of documents—recorder
• Jail administration, law enforcement—sheriff
• Prosecution of state laws and local ordinances—attorney
• Local parks & recreation—conservation board
• Road maintenance—engineer

The local services provided by counties can be broadly categorized as public works, social/human services, health services, and law enforcement.

The internal administrative functions performed by counties are: property tax administration, finance and other management functions, and other miscellaneous housekeeping and record-keeping functions.

County government in Iowa has gone through many changes since Dubuque and Des Moines were the only counties in the territory, but most of those changes have taken place quite recently. In the last 10 years, counties acquired home rule powers (under which counties can do anything that is not expressly prohibited by state law), county funds were consolidated, human services programs were reorganized, the court system was taken over by the state, and counties were given the option to reorganize.

This information has been provided by the Iowa State Association of Counties, 700 Third Street, Des Moines, IA 50309.

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City of Emmetsburg
2021 Main St
Emmetsburg, IA 50536
(712) 852-4030