As property valuations con‑tinue to rise across Nebraska, it is important to remember that increases in valuation di‑rectly impact the amount of property tax revenue generat‑ed by an existing levy rate. In simple terms, when valuations increase, maintaining the same levy will generally result in the collection of more tax dollars from taxpayers.
Elected officials at all lev‑els of government, including members of the Legislature, have a responsibility to ensure the tax burden they impose on their constituents is not great‑er than needed to fund essen‑tial government services.This commitment is often tested by policies and events outside of our control. Low commodity prices, extreme drought, and historic fires are events that, taken individually, can sig‑nificantly impact government resources, spending, and the ability of taxpayers to absorb an existing, not to mention higher, tax burden. Together, these events create an extraor‑dinary challenge for the peo‑ple we are entrusted to serve.
Under Nebraska law, polit‑ical subdivisions are expected to carefully review and adjust their levy rates each year to ensure that tax requests re‑main consistent with actual budgetary needs and statuto‑ry limitations. The levy should not simply remain unchanged when valuations rise if doing so would generate revenue be‑yond what is reasonably nec‑essary for operations, reserves, and authorized expenditures.
