The owner of the Kettlestone Central Sports Complex in Waukee has settled with Dallas County officials over the basketball and volleyball complex’s tax-exempt status.
The Iowa Youth Athletic Foundation in April won its case filed last year against the Dallas County Board of Review over whether the two-building complex at 2045 S.E. Glacier Trail should have been tax-exempt for its 2025 assessment instead of valued at more than $19.2 million. A settlement had already been in the works when the foundation filed a second lawsuit June 1 in dispute of the county’s 2026 assessment of more than $34.4 million.
But the settlement — approved by a Dallas County judge on Wednesday, June 17 — resolves all legal matters between the foundation and the county, according to Pat Burk, an attorney representing the county.
The outcome for the foundation and its Kettlestone gym is that while the complex’s assessed valuation will be on the books as $31.5 million, it is not taxable and the county will not appeal the court’s April ruling that the complex is tax-exempt.
The $31.5 million valuation on the books will be “solely for use by the assessor and private parties for comparisons of like property to help assure assessment consistency,” Burk said.
The Iowa Youth Athletic Foundation filed its second lawsuit even though the settlement had been in development because of timing.
Notice of the settlement was filed June 1 to give affected taxing authorities a legally required 14-day period to comment or object.
But the Dallas County Board of Review on May 21 denied the foundation’s appeal of its 2026 assessment. Todd Lantz, one of the attorneys representing the foundation, said the foundation filed the second lawsuit to protect itself.
“The second lawsuit was entirely avoidable if the Dallas County Board of Review had acted consistent with the district court ruling and the parties’ settlement,” he said.
The Iowa Youth Athletic Foundation is an Ames-based nonprofit that provides facilities and financial aid for youth athletic programs.
Without tax exempt status, the foundation said in its initial lawsuit it might be forced to close the basketball and volleyball facility or sell it to a for-profit entity, “which will likely be less generous to the community and more focused on earning enough revenue to cover the expenses of the Complex.”
The Kettlestone complex in Waukee opened in April 2025.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at PSitter@usatodayco.com. Find out more about him online in the Register’s staff directory.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Waukee Kettlestone gym owner settles with Dallas County in tax dispute
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
