LINCOLN, Neb. – The following is from the office of Governor Pete Ricketts:
“Gov. Pete Ricketts’ warning that voters may take the initiative route to trim local property taxes is not empty talk. I had a front-row seat to such action in California in the late 1970s as an editorial writer for the San Jose Mercury News.
While local governments boasted how they were holding their tax rates steady, they reaped sizable revenue increases from rapidly rising housing assessments. The result was Prop. 13, the Jarvis-Gann Initiative, which cut property taxes by 50%.
Real estate values were rolled back to market values two years earlier, and property taxes were reset at 1% of that value. Future increases were limited to 2% a year. Increases beyond that required either a two-thirds vote for legislative revenue hikes or a two-thirds approval by local voters of any additional local government taxes.
The governor’s proposal to limit future increases in Nebraska property taxes to 3% per year is far less sweeping. I speculate that, as in California, any change in property ownership would result in a levy at the current market value.
The California initiative was the result of increasing numbers of residents, particularly the elderly on fixed incomes, being forced out of their homes. Our newspaper was inundated with woeful letters from these worried homeowners.
In response, local governments and school districts issued dire warnings and every major organization lined up to oppose Prop. 13. Statewide polls repeatedly forecast its defeat.
California voters thought differently. Despite endless warnings of negative impacts, the initiative won 62.6% of the vote (4.28 million of 6.8 million votes).
Is similar momentum building in Nebraska?
Farmers seem to be hardest hit, but homeowners are feeling the pinch as well. Take our own example. I have been retired since 2000 when I returned to Nebraska.
Our largest source of income is Social Security, which was increased this year by 1.3%. In comparison, this year our proposed property tax assessment has shot up 14.64%.
No interior improvements have been made in the last 15 years, and the only exterior improvement since the last assessment was a rehabilitated driveway made to accommodate a compression strip to prevent driveway pressure on our garage wall.
A neighbor’s home has been assessed more than 16% higher. Another, a rare exception, saw a decrease. The assessor himself has talked of some home assessment increases as high as 20%. You figure.
For the record, in 2019 our property taxes increased 8.26%. The school district, which absorbs about two-thirds of our property taxes, made no downward adjustment in its levy. Aren’t we likely to expect the same again in 2021?
The Legislature needs to get off the dime and implement meaningful property tax relief.
In addition, Assessor Rob Ogden should be sending specific preliminary tax assessments directly to residents, not a card advising them how to access them online.”
Ernie Hines lives in Lincoln and is a former editorial writer for the Mercury News in San Jose, California.