Property tax relief, Learning Community topic for debate

After several weeks, the legislature arrived this past week on the topic which many have worried about and looked forward to: property tax relief. Specifically, we spent many hours debating LB 958 and LB 959, the bills introduced at the request of the Governor. Both bills passed the first round of consideration, with many amendments considered, debated, rejected, and adopted for each. LB 958 would increase agricultural property tax credits. Among other things, LB 959 deals with removing an incentive for school districts to actually raise property taxes. We also did extensive work on LB 1067, relating to the Learning Community in Omaha.

LB 958 was advanced to Select File after lengthy debate. There will certainly be further changes to the bill, but as of the deadline for this column, it would continue broad property tax credits offered last year, and would change the way that agricultural property tax credits are calculated, bringing it closer to the way that residential and commercial property tax credits are calculated. LB 959 was placed on Select File following hours of debate as well, and this was also done on the condition that further negotiation would occur on the bill before it is debated for consideration for Final Reading. It also caps a special levy which school districts can use to address health, safety, and accessibility problems. Additionally, LB 959 would remove a penalty for school districts which set their levies below 95 cents. This would give those districts access to state aid and eliminate a law which encouraged them to raise property taxes. This will allow a number of school districts to reduce their levies and will provide more state aid to districts that are heavily dependent on property taxes to fund their schools.

LB 1067 will also be the topic of much negotiation before it is debated on the floor for advancement to Select File. The discussion last week revolved around elimination of the common levy, and how to allocate state educational aid and poverty aid to the Learning Community school districts as well as rural areas, as poverty is not exclusive to the Omaha metropolitan area. Currently, the bill as amended would eliminate the common levy, increase state aid by $5.3 million, and provide for two years of aid for districts negatively impacted by the change to transition, starting at $3.6 million. As always with bills involving multi-million-dollar price tags, there will be more discussion of how much money will be spent on each appropriation and on the bill in total.

I always enjoy hearing from the Nebraskans I represent. Please feel free to contact my office with any questions or concerns that you might have. My email address is dhughes@leg.ne.gov and my phone number is (402) 471-2805.You can read more about bills and other work of the Legislature at www.nebraskalegislature.gov, and you can click on the Live Video Streaming NET logo to watch sessions, hearings, and other Capitol events.