Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Topic because it's so crucial to our state and so
many people are dealing with what I think is a crisis,
and that's a property tax issue. And you're suggesting that
we have the Truth and Taxation a bill, but it
needs to be enhanced, right because this would help transparency
and as you rightly point out, what are we doing
(00:24):
to hold the spenders accountable?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Right? Yeah? Right now?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Under Truth and Taxation, which we championed a few sessions ago,
they're hearings that happen that allow taxpayers to address the
rising property tax collections. Right, So we want to see
these hearings pushed up before the policymakers actually make.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Their budget and approve the budget.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That will have more impact. But what's happening right now.
Valuations continue to go up. Mine's gone up one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars in three years. And you hear
elected officialcy why I kept the rate the same? Yeah,
all ways, But what you need to look at is
not the valuation statement. You need to look at the
budgets of the schools, the counties and the cities to
see how much revenue they're collecting more than they did
(01:09):
the previous year. That's the definition of property tax increase,
and that's what Truth and Taxation allows. It actually shows
you on that pink postcard how much each of these
subdivisions is collecting more in property taxes based on your home.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
What do you think is the likelihood of this adjustment happening?
Because you've got stage senators who many of them are
sympathetic to these taxing bodies and they think things are
fine just the way they are.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, the Truth in Taxation was widely accepted by legislature,
and we're working in the interim with policymakers right now.
The other thing that's really gaining traction with senators as
we speak is what they do in Texas, and it's
an automatic rate rollback once valuations increase. They call it
revenue rate rollback, so that each year you're paying basically
(01:58):
the same amount of taxes that you did before for
each political subdivision. If they want to go beyond that,
it takes the vote of the people.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Like that.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Well, this is something that the Plant Institute has champion
for some time. Why is the governor not on board
with that? Because Walt Peffer, the late DC assessor, Douglas
County Assessor, this was all over his plan too.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Why is this?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Why have we gone three years of property tax reform
promises and zilch to go for it.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Well, I can't speak of that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
The plan has had a billness in the legislature of
the last two sessions with two different senators, and I
can tell you based on the input just in the
last ninety days.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
As a plattist who talks about this.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
My weekly email goes out to seventeen thousand subscribers, and
I'm hearing back from Senator's office and say, tell me
more about this.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So we need to get this out.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Of the room.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
More about this. It's only been in front of you
for two years. Okay, this is why we call them
the forty nine fulbrights continue.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So what we need to do is this this short session.
This is a This is a solution that doesn't require
any revenue from the state. Right we're in a budget
crisis and I think that that's going to continue, and
so this isn't This is a tool in the toolbox,
modeled after Texas that will bring more transparency to the process,
but more importantly, at least give you a shot at
(03:19):
keeping your property taxes the same as they were last year.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So we go to we got suppose this happens and
we go to a public hearing right before the city
council or whatever board votes on their budget for the
coming year and raise a little Hell do you think
that would be effective?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I think that right now what we're seeing. So the
truth and Taxation hearings do happen before they certify their
levy rate, so.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
There's still an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But what we're hearing since these truth and taxation hearings
started a few years ago, that elect officials want to
avoid them, and so they're rafting budgets that avoid them.
Right now, there's a revenue growth that allows them to
still avoid them. We'd like to see that actually come
back to zero, so that if you're spending a die
(04:11):
more in property taxes, that these hearings happen, not just
two or three percent. And the other thing that has
to change here in Nebraska is the caps that were
passed in twenty twenty three by legislature are not very strong.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
No, they ignore them, They find all sorts of ways
around them. They still raise a bunch of money at
the local level, and they say it's for public safety,
but it's really not, and they somehow code this expenditure
under public safety. That was a giveaway. And I think
the governor. I hope the governor learned his lesson. You
(04:43):
can't trust these people with this stuff. He gave a
whole bunch of money to the schools and they didn't.
Not every district lowered their levies. I mean, he gave
fifteen hundred dollars per kid out of ARPA funds, which
aren't now around. And he said, well, if I give
you this, you're going to lower property taxes.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Wrong.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
They collected another eighty three million in property taxes.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
But the automatic rate roll back is that's a pipe
dream probably?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Huh, Well, I think it has some legs. I mean,
at the end of the day, taxes are the result
of spending, and we're spending more, Yes, and valuations go up,
levies don't come down, and then that becomes the butt
the base for your budget the following year.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yes, who's champion? Who's your champion on the legislature this
short session coming up?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, last year Center Hallstrom sponsored the bill. It concluded
both the rate rollback and the truth and taxation changes
that we want to see. So we're going to continue
to work with him, and we're going to work with
our revenue chair Center Von Gilrin, and certainly with the
governor policy Governor Pillons policy team, and see if we
can get this over the finish line.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Jim, you mentioned something, you say, Governor Pillons opposed to this.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Well, he has not supported he has not supported this.
He's not wrapped his arms around a automatic rate reduction
for valuation increases. He has been opposed to a capping
valuation increases on property, which is another way to do it.
California does that. They cap valuations and I think one
(06:11):
percent a year. If you buy a house in nineteen
sixty nine in Beverly Hills, you pay this tax for it.
If you buy it in twenty twenty five, pay this
tax for it. But it only goes up one percent
a year. And they used to make sales taxes to
fund schools there. California is no paragon of fiscal on competency.
(06:32):
But the truth is that's how they handle their property
tax increases because the same thing was happening in the
early seventies. It's happening in Nebraska right now. In California.
Mom and Dad were getting priced out of their homes
in Pasadena because their property taxes were based on valuation increases,
and so a whole bunch of Californias were literally displaced
because they couldn't pay the taxpening. The same thing is
(06:53):
happening here.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It is, but don't get necessarily upset at your assessor.
They're doing their job basically.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Their fault. It's not their fault.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I don't like the formula, but sure the attention needs
to be placed at the elected boards of the schools,
the counties and the cities. And what are they going
to do when valuation is going to go up? They're
going to spend the windfall or they're going to give
it back to the taxpayers and lower the rate. They'll
tell you that they keeping the rate the same to
give you the impression that they have no accountability of
raising taxes, and that's not that's not true.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Look at their budgets.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
If they're increasing the amount of property tax collections over
last year, that's a property m.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Vocal Blat Institute. Thanks man, appreciate the time. Always, let's
stay in touch.
Topic because it's so crucial to our state and so
many people are dealing with what I think is a crisis,
and that's a property tax issue. And you're suggesting that
we have the Truth and Taxation a bill, but it
needs to be enhanced, right because this would help transparency
and as you rightly point out, what are we doing
(00:24):
to hold the spenders accountable?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Right? Yeah? Right now?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Under Truth and Taxation, which we championed a few sessions ago,
they're hearings that happen that allow taxpayers to address the
rising property tax collections. Right, So we want to see
these hearings pushed up before the policymakers actually make.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Their budget and approve the budget.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That will have more impact. But what's happening right now.
Valuations continue to go up. Mine's gone up one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars in three years. And you hear
elected officialcy why I kept the rate the same? Yeah,
all ways, But what you need to look at is
not the valuation statement. You need to look at the
budgets of the schools, the counties and the cities to
see how much revenue they're collecting more than they did
(01:09):
the previous year. That's the definition of property tax increase,
and that's what Truth and Taxation allows. It actually shows
you on that pink postcard how much each of these
subdivisions is collecting more in property taxes based on your home.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
What do you think is the likelihood of this adjustment happening?
Because you've got stage senators who many of them are
sympathetic to these taxing bodies and they think things are
fine just the way they are.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, the Truth in Taxation was widely accepted by legislature,
and we're working in the interim with policymakers right now.
The other thing that's really gaining traction with senators as
we speak is what they do in Texas, and it's
an automatic rate rollback once valuations increase. They call it
revenue rate rollback, so that each year you're paying basically
(01:58):
the same amount of taxes that you did before for
each political subdivision. If they want to go beyond that,
it takes the vote of the people.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Like that.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Well, this is something that the Plant Institute has champion
for some time. Why is the governor not on board
with that? Because Walt Peffer, the late DC assessor, Douglas
County Assessor, this was all over his plan too.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Why is this?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Why have we gone three years of property tax reform
promises and zilch to go for it.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Well, I can't speak of that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
The plan has had a billness in the legislature of
the last two sessions with two different senators, and I
can tell you based on the input just in the
last ninety days.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
As a plattist who talks about this.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
My weekly email goes out to seventeen thousand subscribers, and
I'm hearing back from Senator's office and say, tell me
more about this.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So we need to get this out.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Of the room.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
More about this. It's only been in front of you
for two years. Okay, this is why we call them
the forty nine fulbrights continue.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So what we need to do is this this short session.
This is a This is a solution that doesn't require
any revenue from the state. Right we're in a budget
crisis and I think that that's going to continue, and
so this isn't This is a tool in the toolbox,
modeled after Texas that will bring more transparency to the process,
but more importantly, at least give you a shot at
(03:19):
keeping your property taxes the same as they were last year.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So we go to we got suppose this happens and
we go to a public hearing right before the city
council or whatever board votes on their budget for the
coming year and raise a little Hell do you think
that would be effective?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I think that right now what we're seeing. So the
truth and Taxation hearings do happen before they certify their
levy rate, so.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
There's still an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But what we're hearing since these truth and taxation hearings
started a few years ago, that elect officials want to
avoid them, and so they're rafting budgets that avoid them.
Right now, there's a revenue growth that allows them to
still avoid them. We'd like to see that actually come
back to zero, so that if you're spending a die
(04:11):
more in property taxes, that these hearings happen, not just
two or three percent. And the other thing that has
to change here in Nebraska is the caps that were
passed in twenty twenty three by legislature are not very strong.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
No, they ignore them, They find all sorts of ways
around them. They still raise a bunch of money at
the local level, and they say it's for public safety,
but it's really not, and they somehow code this expenditure
under public safety. That was a giveaway. And I think
the governor. I hope the governor learned his lesson. You
(04:43):
can't trust these people with this stuff. He gave a
whole bunch of money to the schools and they didn't.
Not every district lowered their levies. I mean, he gave
fifteen hundred dollars per kid out of ARPA funds, which
aren't now around. And he said, well, if I give
you this, you're going to lower property taxes.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Wrong.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
They collected another eighty three million in property taxes.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
But the automatic rate roll back is that's a pipe
dream probably?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Huh, Well, I think it has some legs. I mean,
at the end of the day, taxes are the result
of spending, and we're spending more, Yes, and valuations go up,
levies don't come down, and then that becomes the butt
the base for your budget the following year.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yes, who's champion? Who's your champion on the legislature this
short session coming up?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, last year Center Hallstrom sponsored the bill. It concluded
both the rate rollback and the truth and taxation changes
that we want to see. So we're going to continue
to work with him, and we're going to work with
our revenue chair Center Von Gilrin, and certainly with the
governor policy Governor Pillons policy team, and see if we
can get this over the finish line.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Jim, you mentioned something, you say, Governor Pillons opposed to this.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Well, he has not supported he has not supported this.
He's not wrapped his arms around a automatic rate reduction
for valuation increases. He has been opposed to a capping
valuation increases on property, which is another way to do it.
California does that. They cap valuations and I think one
(06:11):
percent a year. If you buy a house in nineteen
sixty nine in Beverly Hills, you pay this tax for it.
If you buy it in twenty twenty five, pay this
tax for it. But it only goes up one percent
a year. And they used to make sales taxes to
fund schools there. California is no paragon of fiscal on competency.
(06:32):
But the truth is that's how they handle their property
tax increases because the same thing was happening in the
early seventies. It's happening in Nebraska right now. In California.
Mom and Dad were getting priced out of their homes
in Pasadena because their property taxes were based on valuation increases,
and so a whole bunch of Californias were literally displaced
because they couldn't pay the taxpening. The same thing is
(06:53):
happening here.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It is, but don't get necessarily upset at your assessor.
They're doing their job basically.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Their fault. It's not their fault.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I don't like the formula, but sure the attention needs
to be placed at the elected boards of the schools,
the counties and the cities. And what are they going
to do when valuation is going to go up? They're
going to spend the windfall or they're going to give
it back to the taxpayers and lower the rate. They'll
tell you that they keeping the rate the same to
give you the impression that they have no accountability of
raising taxes, and that's not that's not true.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Look at their budgets.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
If they're increasing the amount of property tax collections over
last year, that's a property m.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Vocal Blat Institute. Thanks man, appreciate the time. Always, let's
stay in touch.
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