Senators meet with governor in closed-door meeting to discuss property taxes

More than a dozen Nebraska state senators met with Gov. Jim Pillen in the Governor’s Mansion in Lincoln Thursday morning to talk about property taxes.

After the meeting, several senators said they’d been asked to keep the discussion confidential. Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, chair of the Revenue Committee, described things in general terms.

“There was a meeting this morning, yes, at the Governor’s Mansion. The subject was ‘What are we going to do about property taxes?’” Linehan said.

Gov. Jim Pillen’s plan to reduce property taxes by expanding the sales tax failed this spring, opposed by lobbyists for some of the same groups that had participated in meetings about it last year. This year, the discussions are said to be between senators and administration officials only, at least so far.

Pillen wants to call the Legislature back to Lincoln for a special session to deal with property taxes. But he’s also said there’s no point calling a session if there isn’t a plan that has support from the 33 senators needed to overcome a filibuster.

Linehan said after Thursday’s meeting there’s no plan, yet.