Property Tax Hike Gets Look In City

It’s budget making time for the city of Kimball.

Much of City Council’s regular Sept. 3 meeting zeroed in on the budget. Next came the council’s Sept. 10 budget workshop.

At the regular meeting, Mayor John Morrison discussed the 3 options for the 2024-25 proposed mill levy property Taxes.

1) Max Out Tax Request, Levy Decrease.

2) Leave Levy the Same, Max Tax Request increase of $117,070.

3) Max Out Tax Request, Levy Increase.

The Mayor explained that he would like to share real life numbers. A home valued at $310,000 previously had a city tax of $777 – and the three options would raise that city tax on that home to $1,070, $1,120 or $1,280 depending on which option they chose.

He also pointed out that the only parts of the city budget affected by the property taxes are the police, fire maintenance and fire department. They have $650,000 estimated for property tax revenue in the budget, but Morrison feels it could be closer to $700,000 by the end of the year. Additional revenue comes from sales tax, motor vehicle tax and utility occupation tax for the rest of the budget.

When deciding which option to choose, it was noted that with the new state law (LB34), it will limit what cities and counties will be able to collect from property taxes. The mayor stated that while the police and fire are not covered by this new law, they would need to get approval to raise that budget. He explained that whatever levy they choose now, they will probably have to live with for several years.

Councilman Gabe Ingram shared concerns that you could see countywide law enforcement agencies that will be shut down. He also felt LB840 being voted down last year meant they had no way to entice new people to move here. He said he feels the city needs to start looking at merging services to alleviate the cost of living here.

Councilman Creg Pike pointed out that this community has a city and county to support. He feels that the city needs to keep police and emergency services covered and be able to expand them as the city expands. He recommended to have the joint meeting and go with the increased mill levy of .413259.

Comments were open to the public, and Jim Cederburg expressed that he felt there was only one responsible decision, and that would be in agreement with Pike’s motion to increase the levy.

After no further public comment, the City Council voted to hold the joint meeting with the increased mill levy of .413259.

At this point, the City Council went into executive session regarding economic development loan agreements and potential litigation involving Hometown Hardware, Nebraska Coffee and Kimball Plumbing. No action was taken.

Prior to the discussion of the budget, Ron Leal, director of Region 21 Emergency Management and Kimball County emergency manager, spoke about the Kimball County CERT Training.

This is a community emergency response team training, which is basic disaster training for all citizens. This training is free and those who complete this training will receive a Free CERT Disaster Preparedness Kit valued at $180. The class is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 20 from 6:30-10:00 p.m. and will continue the next day on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. To sign up for this class, contact Leal at 308)-249-1310 or send an email to [email protected].