Lieutenant Governor Discusses Property Tax Hotline Success, Finding 33 Votes for Relief
by Matt Johnson
(Photo credit Matt Johnson)
OMAHA — Nebraska’s soaring property taxes, which currently rank fourth highest in the nation, are a perennial issue among voters, yet never seem to get fully solved in the Legislature.
Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly spoke on the issue at an event last week.
“People are leaving the state because of them,” Kelly said. “A lot of them are saying, ‘get out of Nebraska,’ because our neighbors have figured out ways to get those property taxes down, where they are not this pounding piece of debt that comes to us each year, where we all get to keep paying for our house in big chunks over and over and over.”
Kelly described the crux of the issue—getting the 33 votes in the Legislature necessary to overcome a filibuster. As such, any plan Gov. Jim Pillen proposes will be contingent on gaining that support.
“There’s nothing concrete right now,” Kelly said. “We’re working with everybody in the system, everybody in the government, to try and help the Legislature formulate a package that gives us 33 votes where we can offer some real, long-lasting property tax relief.”
Kelly cited a previous proposal by Pillen that included removing sales tax exemptions to offset the property tax cuts, but failed to garner the support needed to survive a cloture vote. Pillen had also proposed moving K-12 funding entirely to the state level, as was previously done with funding for community colleges. K-12 education represents the largest share of most local property tax bills, though the state already covers roughly half the cost.
“Bottom line,” Kelly said, “is we’re relying on property tax way too much to make the world go around.”
Gov. Pillen recently set up a property tax hotline, which Kelly said was intended to let Nebraskans report problems so the state could learn what was actually happening on the ground. One of the tips from the hotline regarded an assessor in Box Butte County.
“We had some quirky things going on, for instance, in Box Butte, where the assessor was simply not doing his job—picking and choosing who would be reassessed and who would not be reassessed,” Kelly said. “Frankly, I don’t think we knew about Box Butte and some of the problems there in that little county until they opened up that hotline and found out some things that were just really quirky going on there that should not have been going on there.”
Unpredictable jumps in property valuations remain one of the larger issues. PJ Morgan, former mayor of Omaha and current member of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, spoke specifically about cases in Omaha.
“I can give you houses on 15th and Pierce that the guy bought for $200,000 in the last five years—last year it was raised 100%,” Morgan said. “And you see homes this year with 50% increases way south on 150th.”
Morgan also told The Plains Sentinel he has been working to lower the valuations for local restaurants Cascio’s and Johnny’s Cafe, which had jumped nearly 300% in recent valuations, back near their previous levels. He supports a hard lid of around 3–3.5% on annual increases for counties, cities, and schools.
In the end, Kelly said the issue will continue to resurface until it is resolved in the Legislature, which will require Republicans to find a solution that 33 members will support.
“Let our senators know—you’ve got to figure out a way to get this done to get 33 votes,” Kelly said. “Quit worrying about property tax every single season and every single session. We do that. What’s the number one topic? Well, it’s property tax. And it’s going to be until we fix it.”
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.