Property Tax Relief for Nebraska Proposed with Legislative Bill 974

WAYNE – Senator Joni Albrecht spoke with a small group of Wayne community leaders and members regarding Legislative Bill 974 Monday, February 17. The meeting was held at The Table Coffeehouse on Main Street in Wayne.

The main goal of LB974 is to provide property tax relief for the first time in 40 years to Nebraskan’s while protecting schools. The bill plans to accomplish this without introducing any new taxes. According to the Legislature’s Statement of Intent on LB974, state aid will be increased to reduce schools from relying on local property taxes to fund K-12 education.

Albrecht said the bill will be useful for schools to be able to estimate and budget within their future funding.

“I think this is good bill, its workable. I’m happy to see that some of my [district’s] schools that haven’t been equalized will now be able to predict what they are going to be getting in the years to come and work within that…consumer price index,” Albrecht said.

Currently, 60 percent of property taxes in the state go towards public school funding. Under the current plan Wayne Community Schools will receive just over $295,000 in funding for the 2020-21 school year. The Fiscal Office predicts under LB974 those numbers would rise to over $1 Million. For the 2022-23 school year that funding is projected to reach about $2.6 Million.

For comparison, Winside is set to receive over $400,000 in aid under the current plan. With the proposed bill, that aid is projected to become just over $749,000 for the 2022-23 school year.

Dr. Mark Lenihan, Superintendent of Wayne Community Schools, said that increased special education reimbursement would be helpful for Wayne since their current reimbursement rate is at around 40%. Increased training mandates for staff which include suicide prevention training and dating violence education, coupled with special education requirements can cost around $25,000 a day, Lenihan said.

Senator Albrecht said that if the bill passes and the numbers aren’t right for schools, they can always be tweaked after the fact.

Albrecht said the Medicaid expansion plan, approved by Nebraska voters in 2018 but still not fully in play, could interfere with the proposed property tax relief because the number of people who would be on the plan could range anywhere from 90,000 to 200,000.

“If we don’t pass 974, I think all of our property tax relief could be compromised by enacting the Medicaid expansion that goes into full effect October 2020,” Albrecht said.

Conversation around Legislative Bill 996 which would improve broadband access in rural areas met supportive ears. Both traveling agricultural workers and families in their own homes can relate to the struggle of slow or nonexistent internet access in Nebraska.

Changes to open meetings laws and the benefits and drawbacks of public comment were also discussed.

The Nebraska prison system, and specifically corrections and rehabilitation for inmates was another big discussion point. A couple people attending felt that Nebraska should not only focus on preparing inmates to find housing and jobs after being released but to also find ways of fixing our society so fewer people end up in prison.

Priority bills will be decided by the Nebraska Legislature Thursday, February 20.

More information can be found about LB974 and how it will directly impact property tax percentages and school funding at https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=41351

You can contact Senator Joni Albrecht by phone at (402) 471-2716 and by email at jalbrecht@leg.ne.gov

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