Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 126 - 141 of 141
In the town halls I’ve held across the 41st district, as well as visits at the Capitol in Lincoln, many of you have brought up housing. Rural workforce housing is among the top issues holding Nebraska back from our true economic potential. Certainly, the high burden of property taxes across Nebraska is having a negative impact on the availability of rural housing: not only are property taxes high in our small towns, but the ripple effects of high property taxes on the economy are felt hard in r...
One of the bills that I introduced this session was LB 770. It authorizes a free lifetime park permit for disabled veterans. This past week, LB 770 was advanced from the Natural Resources Committee on an 8-0 vote. I designated it as my priority bill and the Legislature gave it first-round approval on a 38-0 vote. Under LB 770, a veteran would be eligible for the free permit if they are a Nebraska resident, honorably discharged, and rated 50% or more service-connected disabled or 100% disabled, n...
The Revenue Committee’s property tax/education funding reform bill, LB 974, was brought out of committee on a 6-2 vote last week. LB 974 will inject additional state dollars into education funding. By the third year of implementation, it will provide more than $200 million per year in additional funding to our schools to provide property tax relief for hard working Nebraskans. It will accomplish this by requiring the state to provide over $2,000 per student in foundation aid by that third y...
The Nebraska Department of Revenue, Property Assessment Division reminds property owners that the Nebraska Homestead Exemption Application, Form 458, must be filed with their county assessor between Feb. 3 and June 30. Homestead exemption provides relief from property taxes by exempting all or a portion of the taxable value of the residence. The State of Nebraska reimburses counties and other governmental subdivisions for the property taxes lost due to homestead exemptions. Homestead exemption is available to: • Persons over the age of 65; ...
Almost 500 new bills were introduced by members of the Legislature during the first 10 days of the legislative session. Each proposed legislation will have a public hearing before the relevant committee. The public hearing process has already started and will continue through February. I introduced five bills this year. The first three will have public hearings next week before the Natural Resources Committee and the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. LB 769 requires that each...
Wednesday, Jan. 8 marked the first day of the One Hundred Sixth Legislature, second session. This also marks the beginning of the second year that I am serving as the representative of the 40th Legislative District. The 40th district covers the counties of Boyd, Cedar, Dixon, Holt, Knox and Rock. Legislative sessions in even-numbered years last for 60 days. During the short session, senators will make any necessary adjustments to the two-year budget that was developed during the 90-day session...
Phase one: complete. With last week's successful passage of the Summerland school bond, board of education members from Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard planned to meet Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Ewing, to start phase two of the consolidation and building processes. Ewing Principal Greg Appleby said, "We have a lengthy agenda to discuss a number of items, including policy." Dale Martin, superintendent of Nebraska Unified District #1, which includes Clearwater and Orchard, said a number of items need...
Phase one: complete. With Tuesday's successful passage of the Summerland school bond, board of education members from Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard plan to meet Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Ewing, to start phase two of the consolidation and building processes. Ewing Principal Greg Appleby said, "We have a lengthy agenda to discuss a number of items, including policy." Dale Martin, superintendent of Nebraska Unified District #1, which includes Clearwater and Orchard, said a number of items need to be...
Dean Smith of Brunswick presided over his first meeting as chairman of the Antelope County commissioners last Tuesday, moving to the position from vice chairman after the former chair was removed from office. Two new commissioners had not yet been appointed, leaving Smith, Charlie Henery and Eli Jacob as seated board members to take care of business. The board addressed issues related to a road included in the Thunderhead wind farm road-use agreement. Listed on the agenda under the road...
Seats in the Holt County supervisor’s chamber at the courthouse in O’Neill were all occupied and additional chairs were taken in, when the leaders met Monday. Many audience members voiced concerns, during the 10 minutes set aside for public comment, regarding TransCanada’s route across the county, as well as a new transmission line that will also cross the county. Diane Steskal of Stuart presented a letter to the supervisors, signed by herself and her husband, Byron Steskal, regarding the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route. She read the letter...
Antelope County commissioners, after hearing comments from several constituents and county officials at a pair of public hearings Sept. 17, adopted the budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The $19,155,429 budget includes asking for $6,114,213 from taxpayers next year through a county levy of .246195. In order to balance all components of the budget, the levy computed by County Clerk Lisa Payne is about one-fourth cent more than the 2.5-cent increase proposed by commissioners in early...
The Nebraska auditor of public accounts released results Holt County's annual audit last week. The report covers July 2018 to June 2019, and includes numerous areas of concern for internal control that were listed in a letter sent to the county board of supervisors Sept. 10. The report is a matter of public record and is posted on the APA's website. Deann Haeffner, APA assistant deputy auditor, noted in the letter that the report is "critical in nature" as it addresses areas noted for...
Attendees at the Sept. 10 Antelope County Commissioners' meeting at Neligh's courthouse found new accommodations for hearing county business. A new sound system, including microphones in front of each commissioner, County Clerk Lisa Payne and at the witness table, had been installed. Commissioner Dean Smith acknowledged Invenergy officials for the donation. "I think it is much needed, I have always felt that it was. I appreciated you doing that for the county," he said. "I think it will be a...
County leaders spent about an hour mulling six “options” for managing Antelope County’s finances in the coming year, when they met last week at the courthouse in Neligh. Lisa Payne, county clerk, presented the commissioners with six scenarios for the annual budget, ranging from what she called the “golden egg” with its seven-cent levy increase, to one that called for no change in the county’s slice of a taxpayer’s pie. She cautioned that the figures were “very preliminary,” intended to give the commissioners a picture to work from. The high en...
The atmosphere in the supervisors’ room at the Antelope County courthouse in Neligh became a bit explosive for a while last Thursday morning. A special Aug. 22 meeting of the county commissioners had been set, exclusively, for budget discussion. However, an item for setting the date of a special recall election was added to the agenda by Lisa Payne, county clerk. As the meeting began, Tom Borer, commission chairman, asked for a motion to remove the item from the agenda. Dean Smith complied, offering the motion. “I think we should wait for the c...
Each spring and summer, Holt County officials deal with landowners who fail to comply with state statutes addressing watering of roadways, mowing road ditches and trimming trees. During the Holt County Board of Supervisors meeting July 17, at the courthouse in O'Neill, the members voted unanimously to install a new flag warning system to address the continued nuisance of roadways being watered by irrigation systems or other machinery. According to state statute 46-266, no person is permitted to...
