When land in a levee, drainage, or improvement district is being sold at a tax sale for delinquent taxes or assessment, the board of supervisors or the district trustees, as the case may be, shall have authority to bid in such land or any part of it, paying the amount of the bid from the funds of the district, and taking the certificate of sale in their names as trustees for such district, and may thereafter pay any assessments for taxes or benefits levied against said premises from the district funds. The amount paid for redemption which shall include such additional payment, shall be credited to the district.
Iowa Code § 468.158
89 Acts, ch 126, §2
Similar provisions, chapter 569