Property Tax Reform Town Hall

NORFOLK - Four Nebraska state senators made a stop at Northeast Community College to talk to the public about property tax reform. Senators Jim Scheer, Lou Ann Linehan, Tom Briese and Ben Hansen took questions from the public.

The senators discussed the latest attempts to get a property tax reform bill passed. They also talked about T-OSA, the current system under which Nebraska decides how taxes are used to help fund school districts. Hansen says re-doing T-OSA needs to be a big part of property tax reform.

Another big topic discussed was the ballot initiative concerning property tax relief. If passed, it would bring sweeping changes to how the state gets income to fund certain programs. Briese, who is a member of the revenue committee in the legislature sees merit in the ballot initiative.

Briese says the ballot initiative would force the legislature to come together and make some compromises, but that passing the initiative would not wreck the state's economy.