CHARLES CITY — Floyd County Republicans have nominated Charles City pastor Tyler Robbins as their candidate for the District 2 seat on the Floyd County Board of Supervisors, with Robbins making county spending, property taxes and government transparency central themes of his campaign.
Robbins accepted the Republican nomination at a party nominating convention held Monday, according to an August 20, 2026, campaign announcement.
Robbins lives in Charles City with his wife and their three children and serves as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. He assumed the church’s pulpit following the death of his father, who had previously served as pastor.
In announcing his candidacy, Robbins described a county supervisor as a “trustee” responsible for carefully managing money collected from taxpayers.
“A supervisor is a trustee,” Robbins said. “Every dollar in the county treasury was earned by somebody in Floyd County before it was taxed away from them. Trustees do not spend other people’s money loosely, and they do not keep the books to themselves.”
Robbins’ campaign cited data from ITR Local showing Floyd County’s population declined 5.7 percent over the past decade while county property tax revenue increased 48.3 percent, from about $6 million to $8.9 million.
The campaign said more than half of that decade-long increase occurred during a single budget year, when collections rose from $6.19 million in 2019 to $7.72 million in 2020 — an increase of approximately $1.53 million, or about 25 percent.
According to the campaign announcement, the figures were compiled by ITR Local using information from the U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Reserve and Iowa Legislative Services Agency.
The campaign also cited an ITR Local benchmark comparing tax collections with inflation and population changes, saying Floyd County was 19.7 percentage points above that benchmark compared with a statewide difference of 1.5 points.
“Fewer people live here than lived here ten years ago, and they are paying almost half again as much,” Robbins said. “Something expanded, and it was not Floyd County.”
Robbins also focused on the distinction between property tax levy rates and the actual amount of money collected by local government.
The campaign said Floyd County’s county-wide levy rate is $6.20 per $1,000 of taxable value, compared with a statewide average of approximately $6.27.
Robbins argued that a relatively stable levy rate does not necessarily prevent tax bills from increasing when property valuations rise.
“You leave the rate alone, the valuations go up, and the bill goes up with them,” Robbins said. “Then you tell the taxpayer you never raised his taxes. He knows better. He has the bill in his hand.”
Debt service is another issue Robbins said he intends to scrutinize.
According to figures cited by his campaign, Floyd County’s debt service levy is $1.44816 per $1,000 of taxable value, compared with a statewide average of $0.42104.
Robbins said taxpayers should be given clearer information about the borrowing that produced those obligations.
“Three and a half times the state average on debt service,” Robbins said. “That means nearly a quarter of the county-wide levy is already committed to paying for borrowing decisions made years ago. Taxpayers are entitled to know what was borrowed, when, for what, and who decided it.”
Robbins outlined three financial standards he said he would follow if elected.
He said he would examine the county budget line by line and question what would happen if particular expenditures were eliminated. He also pledged to oppose increases in county property tax collections that exceed what he believes inflation and population changes justify.
If he believes a larger increase is necessary, Robbins said he would publicly explain the reasons before supporting it.
He also pledged to publish county financial information in a format he believes would be easier for ordinary taxpayers to understand.
Robbins said his views on county government extend to private property and development issues.
He said he believes the cost of private development should be borne by developers rather than county taxpayers and called for substantially tougher scrutiny of industrial-scale wind energy projects in Floyd County.
Among the issues he said should receive additional examination are potential impacts on groundwater and county roads, future decommissioning responsibilities and costs to taxpayers.
State Rep. Charley Thomson, chairman of the Floyd County Republican Central Committee, said Robbins decided to seek the position without being recruited by party officials.
“Nobody had to sell Tyler on this,” Thomson said. “He had already done the arithmetic himself, and he has the patience for the line-by-line work it takes to fix it. Supervisors handle other people’s money. Tyler understands exactly what that means.”
Robbins closed his nomination announcement by arguing that population loss, taxes and dissatisfaction with county government need to be confronted more aggressively.
“People are leaving this county like they are abandoning a sinking ship,” Robbins said. “Well, the time has come to start repairing the ship.”
Robbins said he intends to push for a county budget that more closely reflects the priorities of the people paying for county government and for greater disclosure of how taxpayer money is collected and spent.