Nebraska senators pass 50 bills, no action taken on property taxes

The Legislature passed bills on subjects ranging from cattle drives to competitive bidding Thursday, and discussed, but took no action on, property taxes.

It was a day full of mumbling, bell ringing, and button pushing, as senators gave final approval without debate on dozens of bills. Typical of the ritual, Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler quickly read the titles bill, Lieutenant Gov. Joe Kelly or Speaker John Arch called for votes and rang the bell, and Metzler read off how senators voted, pronounced the results.

Among measures passed was one requiring motorists to yield the right of way to people leading, herding or driving livestock along roadways passed. Another raised the minimum contract size requiring bidding for cities of 100,000 or fewer inhabitants from $30,000 to $90,000.

In all, some 50 mostly noncontroversial bills were passed. Speaker John Arch announced the Legislature would meet Friday to pass more bills, then again next Friday to provide an opportunity to override any potential vetoes by Gov. Jim Pillen.

The only substantive debate Thursday occurred on a proposal by Sen. Ben Hansen that would have essentially limited annual increases in property taxes levied by local governments, including schools, cities and counties, to 2.5% per year, plus taxes on real growth resulting from property improvements, like new construction.

Sen. Bob Andersen stressed the importance of the issue.

“When I was campaigning, this is the number one issue. Property tax is the number one issue, bar none. We need to find a way to stop the bleeding. We have to quit punishing people for owning a home. We have to stop people from being taxed out of their homes. We have to stop giving people a reason to leave Nebraska while retirees are leaving, because it's too damn expensive to live here now,” Andersen said.

Sen. Jane Raybould, a former county commissioner and city council member, said a 2.5% lid was impractical.

“There is no discipline in our state legislature to stop passing on unfunded mandates to our schools, to our cities and to our counties. Yet here we are doing this again, telling them to do more with less when there is inflation going on. How in the heck are we expected to be able to retain and attract great teachers? How in the heck are we able to attract and retain police officers and firefighters?” Raybould asked.

Sen. Brad von Gillern, chair of the Revenue Committee, also criticized Hansen’s proposal to limit property tax increases.

“I have spent more time on this topic in my years here than any other topic. I believe it's disrespectful and it's disingenuous to those in the body who have worked hard to bring actual property tax reform and relief, while ensuring the services that are important to all Nebraskans are not decimated,” von Gillern said.

Sen. Tanya Storer said the state is already spending about $1.6 billion a year to offset local property taxes.

“When I go home and I hear people say, ‘What are you going to do about property taxes?’ I say, ‘Well, the Legislature has done about 1.6 billion things about property taxes,’ with the property tax credits and the Education Future Fund and the foundation aid and taking the community colleges over, all of which are good things. But at the end of the day, it's not working,” Storer said.

Sen. Rob Dover said the state shouldn't be spending money that way.

“Around 60% of property taxes increases due to public schools. City and county taxes account for around 40% of the total property tax bill. The state should be taking our limited sales and income tax and focus on growing our state, not subsidizing local property tax,” Dover said.

Sen. Kathleen Kauth urged Nebraskans to get involved at the local level to address property taxes.

“When I hear people say, ‘Well, we just want you to fix it because you're at the Legislature,’ we'd love to be able to push that easy button and make it happen. But these are very, very local decisions, so we need our constituents help in this. We need you to show up at these meetings, talk to your elected officials at the local level, tell them what you think is important to spend money on,” Kauth said.

Sen. Tom Brandt, leaving the Legislature due to term limits, said senators will have to find other sources of revenue.

“We've put $1.6 billion into property tax. If that's gone tomorrow, everybody's property tax in the state goes up 30 to 35% overnight. So the state has tried. But we're going to have fiscal challenges after my class is gone. Good luck. You're going to have to raise some sales tax revenue, or income tax revenue or a new revenue stream, and figure this out,” Brandt said.

And Hansen, also term limited, said his amendment was needed to get people talking about the subject.

“Colleagues, I think we do need to have a discussion about this. This will help us, not just maybe now, but also next year, when we have to bring this up and do something about it. We've kicked this can down the road way too much,” Hansen said.

Still, conceding his proposal would not advance this year, Hansen withdrew it before it reached a vote.

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