Less than half a percent of the county’s population showed up to a joint public tax hearing on Sept. 26, and anger and confusion seemed to be at the center of people’s minds.
The hearing, required by new legislation through LB 644, drew only about 50 people out of Seward County’s 17,217 residents.
The meeting was a chance for property owners to hear from all taxing entities, including three school districts and the county, that planned to increase their tax levy and budget by more than 2% plus allowable growth in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Every landowner in the county received at least one bright pink postcard alerting them to the meeting and outlining the proposed tax changes by each entity.
The cards showed how much taxes on a person’s specific parcel of land would change.
The goal of LB644 was to make property taxes more transparent, but the pink postcards seemed to cause more confusion than anything else.
“I think the pink card has been a little confusing,” Seward Public Schools Superintendent Josh Fields said, adding that he received calls from residents asking if the card was a bill they had to pay directly to the school.
Fields was one of three school superintendents who spoke at the meeting, along with County Commission Chair John Culver.
The county, Seward Public Schools, Milford Public Schools and Centennial Public Schools all surpassed the 2% threshold when it came to increases in their proposed budgets for the coming year.
Other entities, including the cities of Seward and Milford, kept their tax requests under the 2% increase, so they did not have to participate in the joint meeting.
Fields reminded those in attendance that SPS’ budget, just like the rest of the entitites’ budgets, is subject to its own public hearing in conjunction with a regular Board of Education meeting.
The proposed tax changes weren’t new – the postcards just made people more aware that these entities were considering changes to their budgets like they do every year during their own public meetings.
Seward resident Merlyn Nielsen posed a question during the public comment portion of the hearing, asking if the numbers on the postcards were accurate, saying it didn’t add up when he did the math.
Seward County Clerk Sherry Schweitzer, who facilitated the meeting, said there were some discrepancies on the cards, especially for those who own property in more than one county.
“Seven counties included a bond with their numbers, which some counties were told to include. Others were told not to include it,” Schweitzer said.
It’s possible there were other problems, too, she said.
Gary Bredenkamp of Waco attended the meeting because he owns property in the Centennial school district.
Bredenkamp said the proposed tax increases on land he owns in Seward County and York County ranged from $200 to $2,000 for similar properties between the two counties.
Centennial Public School Superintendent Seth Ford said York County printed its postcards with the incorrect levy numbers for the CPS district.
Schweitzer reiterated that this was the first time a joint public tax hearing had been held in Nebraska, and that the process wasn’t necessarily smooth.
Per LB644, Schweitzer had five days once she received proposed numbers from the county and school districts to submit all necessary information to the county assessor.
The assessor then had five days to update numbers for every parcel of land in the county and send the information to the company that printed the postcards.
Schweitzer explained that an initial legislative bill was passed, but it was missing a lot of logistics, such as who was responsible for gathering the information and when the joint meetings had to be held.
A second bill cleaned up some of the issues, but not all.
“Now, after finally doing it, we see there are more problems,” Schweitzer said.
Some attendees expressed doubt that the joint hearing made any difference, as the schools and county had already decided their budgets – though none of the budgets, by law, were passed or approved until after the joint hearing.
Others voiced concerns that their incomes aren’t keeping up with inflation and that raising tax levies only adds to the problem.
