Why was Panorama Park founded? Iowa town of 139, surrounded by Bettendorf, owes its existence to a road dispute

"Why does Panorama Park exist?"

It's Ronald Rice's favorite question, he says sarcastically. As mayor of the small Iowa town, he gets the query all the time.

Panorama Park today is an incorporated city consisting of a single neighborhood that is completely surrounded by Bettendorf. But it wasn't always that way.

"It's comical and frustrating at the same time — more comical though — is I get emails from all across the country, and the gist of it is, why do you exist, because you're surrounded by Bettendorf," Rice said on a December morning at the city's 720-square-foot, one-room city hall. "What people fail to recognize is that we've been a city since 1953. Bettendorf was nowhere near here in 1953."

Panorama Park is what’s known as an enclave — a city within a city. There are only two enclaves in Iowa. The other is University Heights — a 0.27-square-mile city with a population of about 1,300 that’s surrounded by Iowa City.

Today, the town has a population of 139 people. It has just one north/south road and no commercial businesses, library, church or, ironically, parks, inside its boundaries. In fact, Rice says he sometimes gets phone calls or has to turn around wayward motorists looking for a literal park. Because of the town's size, notices are published on two bulletin boards around the town and on the city hall front window instead of in a newspaper. The city collects about $27,000 in taxes yearly from its residents at a rate of about $4.47 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value without additional sewer or garbage fees. It pays its sole employee, a city clerk, for five hours of work a month. The city has agreements with other governments for snow removal, fire, police, sewer and library services, and contracts privately for garbage and recycling pickup.

The mayor and council are all volunteers. Rice mows the lawn, trims the trees and runs the city website. His wife, Shawn, who is on the city council, organizes community events like a movie night, chili cook-off, trick-or-treating and cookie exchange at City Hall. This past Christmas, Shawn Rice made little ornaments for all 60 Panorama Park households.

Residents like Panorama Park's close-knit, independent spirit, and aim to keep it that way.

"We want to be small, we want to be kind of left alone, but we want to be good neighbors, too," Shawn Rice said.

City owes its existence to a road

In 1953, residents of the Panorama Park subdivision decided to incorporate.

The working-class neighborhood had a dirt road with poor drainage that caused standing water and a muddy mess, according news coverage at the time. People had trouble getting to work.

Scott County turned down residents' requests for help maintaining its dirt road. Incorporating the subdivision as a city would allow it to collect taxes from residents and pay for road improvements and maintenance. Homeowners associations like what governs Scott County's Park View — established in the 1960s — weren't as common yet.

In the 1950s, Panorama Park was surrounded by farm fields. Nearby Bettendorf, as of the 1950 census, had a population of 5,100 and was miles away.

On March 28, 1953, Panorama Park residents voted 47-8 to incorporate as a city. Voters cast their ballots at the house of a Panorama Park resident.

By July 1953, the town had elected its first aldermen and mayor and sat down to evaluate its budget. The new town would only receive $460 in tax revenue to operate on the next year, according to a July 10, 1953, article from the Morning Democrat. Its bills for incorporating totaled about $300, according to that article.

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Property in town was valued at $45,000 total and many residents were entitled to soldier exemptions on property taxes, resulting in the modest tax returns, the article stated.

But within the next decade, Panorama Park would balance its ledgers and put in a smooth blacktop, according to a 1962 article from Bettendorf News.

"We haven't missed a day's work due to roads," boasted Marion Ohm, the Panorama Park mayor in 1962.

Neighboring Bettendorf began encroaching on Panorama Park in the 1960s. Bettendorf's population grew to about 11,500 people at the 1960 census and 22,100 by the 1970 census.

Bettendorf's annexations in the 1960s soon swallowed Panorama Park, surrounding it, to the disgruntlement of the small town's residents.

City invited vice president for 1968 city hall dedication

In 1968, Panorama Park built the city hall it continues to use today.

Ronald Rice, the current mayor, remembers the dedication.

Rice — at the time known as "Ronny" — was just about to turn 8 years old when he signed the guest book at the dedication in big disjointed letters.

The mayor and city officials at the time swung big for their city hall opening. U.S. Rep. Fred Schwengel, who represented the area, attended the celebration. Still in the city's records is a letter sent by the office of U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, thanking the then-mayor for the invitation to Panorama Park's city hall dedication and sending his regrets that he could not attend.

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"This just blows me away," Rice said of the mayor inviting the vice president of the United States. "The courage that a small town mayor has."

What it's like to lead a small city

There are some challenges and some joys to running such a small city.

With such a small budget, every expense counts.

"If I buy a box of paper clips, it affects your tax bill," Ronald Rice said.

The biggest expense Panorama Park has is to the Scott County Library system. Panorama Park's most recent bill is about $6,100, more than 20 percent of the city's property tax revenue.

The Scott County book mobile comes every three weeks, and Shawn Rice knocks on doors of families with kids and invites them down for the book mobile event and story hours. But the 4 p.m. time isn't always convenient for working parents, and she said there isn't always great attendance.

But, the city must pay the library, Ronald Rice said. It's a state mandate.

That's what he talked to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds about when she came to speak to Scott County local officials and lawmakers in November about upcoming state attempts to decrease property taxes for Iowans.

"I'm not opposed to them putting limits on property taxes, but my view on it that I shared with the governor was that I'd like to see some tools in the toolbox to help cities cut expenses if we're going to be cutting revenues," Ronald Rice said.

Still, Panorama Park has fewer city expenses than other, more rural small towns, thanks to sharing resources with its neighbors, he acknowledged. Also, the city collects property taxes well under the state limits and has flush reserves — about $70,000 in the general fund, $120,000 in the road fund, and $262,000 in the sewer fund, according to the city's most recent treasurer's report.

Ideally, Rice said, he'd like to see the library have its own taxing authority because, he said, currently the city just receives a bill from the library system without being able to provide additional input on their expenses or how they operate.

Susceptibility to fraud is another challenge for small Iowa towns. Most recently, McCausland's city clerk was charged with theft for stealing about $55,000 from the small city in Scott County.

Rice is astonished by examples like McCausland. When he was first elected mayor in 2017, he asked for the state to perform an audit of the city's finances and make recommendations.

Now, Panorama Park has no city credit cards and all checks must be endorsed by the city clerk and one other person. Reimbursements must be signed by another council member. Reconciliation of accounts is presented to the city council every month. Everything has a receipt, Rice said.

Leading a small city can have its rewards. The mayor and city council know just about everyone in town and feel a responsibility to be responsive to the needs of the residents, their neighbors.

On the other hand, the city council and mayor can't delegate when thorny neighbor disputes pop up. The mayor and city council are the ones who draw up letters to send if a property isn't following an ordinance.

"The buck stops here," Ronald Rice said.

In a town with fewer than 150 residents, conflicts of interest pop up. Rice resigned his mayor position for a few months in 2023 while the council considered an ordinance enforcement action on a property neighboring his.

It also can be tough to recruit people to run for office, but the Rices were encouraged that all five council members ran again in 2025 for another two-year term.

Panorama Park makes recent improvements

In recent years, Panorama Park has improved its sewer to prevent inflow and infiltration, going in with Riverdale to save money on a contractor. The city purchased an emergency generator for city hall after the 2020 derecho, so it could be a meeting place in case of future long stretches of power outages.

Speed humps were added on Park Avenue, the north/south road, to slow drivers as more families have taken up residence in Panorama Park.

Currently, the city council is focusing on updating its ordinances. At the council's Dec. 11 meeting, the council discussed a proposed fence ordinance that would standardize the materials allowed for fencing. For example, under the ordinance, no barbed wire, spikes, scrap metal or electric fences would be allowed.

Also, Ronald Rice told the council a neighboring Bettendorf resident had called him and asked if the council would consider an ordinance that would ban leaf burning. Apparently, this fall was particularly smoky with an easterly wind.

But, it would be tough for the city to absorb the leaf pickup, Rice told council members. Neighboring Riverdale does leaf pickup through Republic, which also picks up residents' garbage and recycling. Riverdale pays the company double what Panorama Park pays, he said. Riverdale's population was 379 as of the 2020 census and has since grown with new housing development.

Panorama Park's ordinance now prohibits burning trash or construction material. Some council members suggested telling Panorama Park residents to take care of leaves during a two-week period in October.

"Maybe we could go door to door when the wind's bowing to the west," Ronald Rice joked.