Three bills linked to the governor’s proposal to reduce property taxes paid to fund services provided by cities, counties and school districts will be discussed in today’s Revenue Committee hearing.
LB 1241 would add another levy limit on local political subdivisions in any year where its total property valuation increased. Levy limits, like other revenue caps, make it more difficult for local elected officials to budget from year to year and respond to needs.
Another bill, LB 1316, would further erode local control by eliminating a school board’s authority to override what the district can raise through property taxes in a given year. Instead, override decisions would be subject to special elections which are expensive for school districts to undertake.
The final bill, LB 1318, would reinstate a revenue trigger that previously sunset under the Property Tax Incentive Act (LB 1107 credit), which provides a refundable income tax credit for property taxes paid to school districts. These triggers are statutory mechanisms which implement future revenue actions (often tax cuts) upon certain economic conditions being met. OpenSky has historically opposed revenue triggers due to the inability to account for every eventuality and can result in less revenue at inadvisable times.
The Revenue Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. OpenSky will provide updates on X.
Watch livestream of hearing on Nebraska Public Media
Webinar today at noon on ARPA funding
Join OpenSky for a webinar today at noon. Researchers from The Pew Charitable Trusts will review how the decisions that states made in spending ARPA funds could contribute to – or reduce the risk of – future imbalances in state budgets.
We’re so pleased that Sen. Wendy DeBoer will launch the webinar with an update on initial findings from the State Auditor’s review of ARPA allocations in Nebraska.