The following are limitations upon the powers of a city:
1. A city council shall exercise a power only by the passage of a motion, a resolution, an amendment, or an ordinance.
2. A city shall not provide a penalty in excess of a one hundred dollar fine or in excess of thirty days imprisonment for the violation of an ordinance. An amount equal to ten percent of all fines collected by cities shall be deposited in the account established in section 602.8108. However, one hundred percent of all fines collected by a city pursuant to section 321.236, subsection 1, shall be retained by the city. The criminal penalty surcharge required by section 911.2 shall be added to a city fine and is not a part of the city's penalty.
3. A city may not set standards and requirements which are lower or less stringent than those imposed by state law, but may set standards and requirements which are higher or more stringent than those imposed by state law, unless a state law provides otherwise.
4. A city may not levy a tax unless specifically authorized by a state law.
5. A city shall not adopt or enforce any ordinance imposing any registration or licensing system or registration or license fees for owner-occupied mobile homes including the lots or lands upon which they are located. A city shall not adopt or enforce any ordinance imposing any registration or licensing system, or registration or license fees, or safety or sanitary standards for rental mobile homes unless similar registration or licensing system, or registration or license fees, or safety or sanitary standards are required for other rental properties intended for human habitation. This subsection does not preclude the investigation and abatement of a nuisance or the enforcement of a tiedown system, or the enforcement of any regulations of the state or local board of health if those regulations apply to other rental properties or to owner-occupied housing intended for human habitation.
6. A city shall not provide a civil penalty in excess of one hundred dollars for the violation of an ordinance which is classified as a municipal infraction or if the infraction is a repeat offense, a civil penalty not to exceed two hundred dollars for each repeat offense. A municipal infraction is not punishable by imprisonment.
[R60, § 1071--;1073, 1095; C73, § 482, 524; C97, § 668, 680, 947; S13, § 668; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 5663, 5714, 6720; C46, 50, § 363.36, 366.1, 420.31; C54, 58, 62, § 366.1, 368A.1(10), 420.31; C66, 71, 73, § 366.1, 368.2, 368A.1(10), 420.31; C75, 77, 79, 81, § 364.3]
83 Acts, ch 123, § 171, 209; 84 Acts, ch 1219, § 31; 85 Acts, ch 195, § 44; 86 Acts, ch 1202, § 1; 86 Acts, ch 1245, § 1118; 94 Acts, ch 1074, §4
Referred to in § 331.427, 364.22, 455B.192
Iowa General Assembly
Search: Iowa Code 1997
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