Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Property Taxes light the phones ON FIRE

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Property Taxes light the phones ON FIRE · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothert. Peyton Highlock, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here today. Good morning, Peyton. Good morning, Jean.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: How are you this morning? It's another bad hair day.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: For you or me?
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Well, for me. Peyton has good hair. You know what? Many,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: many women and many men in this building, i.e. Chris
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Baker in the afternoon, would love to have Peyton Highlock's hair.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: He has good hair. Is that what you're known for?
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Sure, but we can't be ragging on Chris Baker's Hair
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: or lack thereof when he's not here.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: He's just jealous of you because of your hair. I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: know he is. But I want to thank all of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you for being with us today. We want to hear
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: from you. We want to get your feedback, hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Anything goes. City, state, national, the world. and we will
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: have plenty of good guests today. We don't have guests today,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: but we want to hear from you. So you are
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: our guest today, and we want to hear what you
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: have on your mind. And, of course, you're going to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: hear plenty of opinions from me, but it is your
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: chance to speak up and sound off. Please send your
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: emails to comment at kfab.com. You can call us, 402-558-1110,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: or you can leave us a recorded message on the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: talkback mic, and we may play it on the air.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: We probably will play it on the air. As long
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: as it's clean. As long as it's clean. Most of
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: our talkbacks are clean, Peyton, aren't they? They are, yes.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, I got one already.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: You notice he hesitated a moment on that, but we
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: are very happy that you are with us today. So
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: lots going on in the city, but we already have
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: a call. Even before we announced the show was starting,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: somebody is eager. So let's bring them on.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Keith, thank you so much for calling Gene Stothern, the
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: KFAB comment line.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: You are live. Good morning, Keith.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Hey, good morning. Good morning, Mayor. Yeah, I got my
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: little postcard. I'm sure everybody else in Omaha got the
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: little green postcard about the property tax increases. Anyway, I've
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: got a little commercial property down in South Omaha. It
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: went up 40%, $ 80, 000.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Ooh.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: This last year, just out of nowhere, boom, it hits
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: you right in the face. So anyway, I appealed it,
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: and I used two properties in South Omaha, one in
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: North Omaha. They came back with using a property in
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Midtown and in West Omaha that weren't even comparable in
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: parking spots, in square footage. You know, and about eight
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: years ago, I went all the way to the state.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: I got nothing out of the state. So, I mean,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: something's got to be done. So, anyway, the city got,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: I'm going to be charged an extra $ 400 from the city.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: The OPS is getting $ 1, 100. And Douglas County is getting $ 250.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: So that's about a $ 1, 700 increase I've got to come
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: up with, you know, magically in one year.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: That's quite a hike there. Now, this is interesting. I'm
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: glad you called because I got my little green card, too.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: It was a while back. It seems like it was
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: at least a month ago. But anyway, mine went up
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: quite a bit, too. But it's interesting that you say
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: that because these come from the Douglas County Assessor. And
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: if they raise your valuation, not your taxes, your taxing
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: entities decide what the levy is. And you mentioned levy. Those,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the city, Douglas County, the school districts, all the other
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: taxing entities. But they usually use comparables that are in
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: your distinct area. If they can't find any comparables for
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: the type of property that you have, then they look elsewhere.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: But I think that's interesting that you said that the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: two areas they looked at. I guess they were trying
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to find something that was comparable to your property. But
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I think that's quite interesting. And, you know, the area
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that I live in, I live in Millard, southwest Omaha.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: I live south of Q Street. that it was a
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: very stable area for a while and there were not
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of houses being sold or built. And so
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: all of our taxes stayed pretty steady for, it was
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: about five years or so. So they didn't even look
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: outside our area. And then houses started selling and then
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: they started revaluating because of the increase that people were
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: selling their properties for. So now ours every year has
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: gone up and mine has gone up. quite significantly this year.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: But it is interesting. Are you still on the line?
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: Yes, I'm still here.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Have you heard back from your appeal yet, though? That's
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: what I'm interested in.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I got back the little card that said, these
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: are the two, one in Midtown that had like, okay,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: I've got 10 parking spots. And if you're in business,
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: parking is a big concern.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to have it, yes.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: The property they used in Midtown had 25 parking spots.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: The one in Northwest Omaha had 30 parking spots.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: The time frame, my building is like 70 years old,
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: and they were using buildings that were 20 years old.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Again, where did you say your property was? Where was
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: your property?
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: At 37th and Q.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay. Very interesting. But you have not, you heard
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: back from the appeal, but did they adjust?
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, I heard back from the appeal. They didn't meet
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: me halfway. They just said because of the two comparables
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: they had that, you know, mine stayed the same.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: And when I saw that, You know, I fell over.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: But anyway, I got a solution. I got a solution
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: for this, Mayor.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I'd like to hear it.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: We got to do a California Proposition 13, okay? A
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: 1% tax. Your property taxes are 1% of the assessed value,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: and your growth per year can't be more than 2%, okay?
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: And so far, everybody who's come up, you used the
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: Epic a couple days ago. I listen to your show
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: every day. And, you know, when somebody wants to reduce it,
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: they think they need to come up with an idea
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: to replace it. Okay, that's not our job as Nebraskans.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: Our job is just come up with something that we're
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: willing to pay, and the Proposition 13 is fair to me. OK,
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: and then let the legislature, you know, and they say, well,
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: they can't agree and they can't agree on anything. And
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: the biggest problem with the legislature is the fact that
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: the filibuster, they've got to have 33 out of 49. OK,
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: that's six, that's 67 percent. OK, the federal government, Senate.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: is a 60% filibuster. They need 60. Nebraska needs 67,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: and that's never going to happen. But just throw it
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: out to them, say, this is how much we're going
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: to give you, and all the sales tax exemptions will
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: come off, I bet, within a couple weeks.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate your call, and I thank you for
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: calling in, and I'd like to hear anybody else that
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: is listening, if they've got their little green cards, too,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: This Prop 13 that passed in California that was 1%
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: of assessed value and then the growth can't be more
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: than 2% a year. You know, that is one thing
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: that I know Governor Pillen talked about on this show
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  Speaker 1: about limiting value. the amount of growth that the assessor
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: can value your house year by year by year. That
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: is something that can happen in state law. I always
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: have said before that property taxes are local, meaning the
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: levy is all set locally. The legislature really cannot do
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: whatever the property tax levy is. That is up to
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the city, Douglas County, your school boards. Those elected boards
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: can determine what your levy is. However, the state can
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: limit what the assessor can raise the value of your house.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: They can determine if they have to revalue it, say, annually.
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  Speaker 1: That's where the buck will stop with the legislature. And
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: so that is the one thing that I know that
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the governor has talked about is limiting how much that
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: assessed value can go up every year. Because a lot
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  Speaker 1: of areas aren't assessed. Maybe they're not even assessed once
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: every five years. And then all of a sudden you
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: have a lot of sales in your specific area. And
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: then you just get whacked with this big increase that
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to many is just cost prohibitive. They don't know how
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: they're going to pay for it. That's a big hike
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: for you too. I mean- When you say $ 1, 700 more
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: a year, I mean, if that's your business, that comes
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: out of your profits there. So we have another call?
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: We do.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Scott has a response to this. Scott, you're live with
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Gene Stothert here on KFAB.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Scott.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Mayor. One of the things I wanted to mention,
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  Speaker 2: Prop 13 is not the answer. What happened when California
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  Speaker 2: launched Prop 13 in the 70s? At the time, they
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  Speaker 2: were about average as far as property values went. But
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  Speaker 2: since then, they stopped building anything in California as far
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: as residential property. They're now 3 million houses down as
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: far as demand goes. So property values went from average
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  Speaker 2: to over a million dollars per house. The average home
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: is about a million dollars because City councils and everything
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: else basically said, we're going to go ahead and greenlight
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: commercial property, and they built commercial property, but no housing. So, yeah,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: it's not a good economic consideration. If they're going to
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: do a Prop 13, it's got to be severely modified,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: because the way they did it in California.
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: Is not the answer.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Well, that's good information, too, because, I mean, at least
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: we have something. If we say, this is a good idea,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: look into it. We have... Years and years and years
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: since this was passed in the 70s, like you said,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: to look and see what has happened to states like
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: California that have done this and what the positive and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the negatives are. And obviously, there's quite a few negatives.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: The last thing you want to do is to reduce
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the number of houses being built or the homebuilders. reducing
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: what they are doing, going out of business because they
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: can't afford it. And so there's always positives and negatives
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: with this. I think to me, and for one that
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: worked on a city budget, did 12 city budgets and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: also worked, recommended what the property tax levy would be
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: every single year for the city of Omaha. When we
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: try to control that, that's what we can do locally,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: like I said. But it still is, when we find
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: out that there are some homes that go five years,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: sometimes 10 years, without having their property revalued, and then
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden they're whacked with this enormous increase
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: that they can't afford. That's where I think the solution comes.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Part of the solution is, and that is saying that
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: you must at least revalue houses, Douglas County Assessor, once
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: every so many years, make it more frequent, and then
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: limit the amount that the increase would be per year,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: per household, or per business. They would have to do
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: something like that to make it more affordable and something
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: that you can at least plan more for. Now, I
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: always have to keep in mind that... or remind people this,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: with the city of Omaha. Because the city of Omaha's levy,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: their property tax levy this year, 2026, it's 43.99 pennies
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: per $ 100 valuation of your home. So when we reduce
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the levy, say by a penny or two pennies, which
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: we have done, it still does not affect what you
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: pay that much because the city of Omaha's property tax
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: is about 22% of your total bill. The big area
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: that takes most of your property taxes are your public schools.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: That's the one you really got to look at, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: that's the one you've really got to see what those
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: elected school boards are doing. And you know Omaha Public School,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: because of the big debacle that they are in, that
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: they received more state aid than they should have from
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the state, went ahead and spent it, and now they
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: are in a dilemma, and they are going to reduce–
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: I think they're reducing programming. They're trying to keep it
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: out of the classroom as much as they can, meaning
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: they're trying to keep not increasing the number of students
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: per classroom. But at the same time, Omaha Public Schools
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: is going to be raising their levy. for the property
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: taxes to make up for this error. And I remember
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: when this all happened. And so the school districts are
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: the ones that I think we've really got to keep
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: our eye on. And again, those are elected boards. And remember,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: some of these school districts in the area, these are
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: important jobs, these school board. And some of these districts
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: have school board members that have been on the school
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: board for 30-something years. I mean, people just keep on
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: re-electing and re-electing because the name is familiar. You got
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: to look at what they're doing here. They are deciding
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the biggest percentage of what your property tax bill is,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: and they decide their budget and decide on what their
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: levy is at different times. So the city of Omaha's
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: levy has already been approved, and Mayor Ewing made a
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: recommendation to the city council that 2027 that the levy
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: for the city of Omaha, he says, will stay flat,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: meaning he is not going to reduce that levy. But
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: he also went and said the property taxes are coming
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: in more than they have before, a lot more. And
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: he also said that the sales tax are coming in
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: a lot more. So they have a lot more revenue
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: coming in, but they are keeping the levy the same.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Gene, the phone lines are hot this morning. If you're
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: trying to call 402-558-1110, Phone lines are full. There's no space.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: We'll keep firing through some phone calls here.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: You can also send an email. Peyton, I knew as
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: soon as I mentioned that word T-A-X, tax, that we
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: would get a lot of comments. And I'm glad you
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: are commenting because this is something that is obviously near
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and dear and very expensive to all of us. That's
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: what Adam said. He goes, you guys are talking about
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: property tax.
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: I'm in.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I'm in. So here is Adam. You're live with Gene
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Stothert here on KFAB. Good morning, Adam.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Hey, Jane.
• 15:22
  Speaker 7: How are you doing?
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I am good. Thank you.
• 15:26
  Speaker 7: So I just had a couple thoughts. First thought is,
• 15:31
  Speaker 7: you know, we as citizens need to be going to
• 15:34
  Speaker 7: our school board meetings, going to our city meetings throughout
• 15:38
  Speaker 7: the year. We can't wait for the green slips or
• 15:41
  Speaker 7: the pink slips to come back. and start ranting for
• 15:45
  Speaker 7: a week, and then we all go back to work
• 15:47
  Speaker 7: and forget about it until next year.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: You are so right.
• 15:50
  Speaker 7: I personally, specifically, did that last year. Went to the meetings, said, hey,
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: I'm going to start going to the meetings, and I've
• 15:56
  Speaker 7: been to one in the last year. You know, so
• 15:59
  Speaker 7: shame on me. My second thought, if I can just
• 16:04
  Speaker 7: have two thoughts here, is we need to maybe consider
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: how we can... make it more fair for people that
• 16:16
  Speaker 7: maybe aren't keeping track of their properties. You know, I
• 16:20
  Speaker 7: had a commercial property and bought a very rundown property,
• 16:26
  Speaker 7: put money into it, you know, put $ 600, 000 into this property.
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: And of course my evaluation goes up and, you know,
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: so the thank you that I get for bringing an
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: asset to the community and improving the you know, a
• 16:42
  Speaker 7: rundown property, the thank you I get is here, double
• 16:45
  Speaker 7: your taxes. So I'm sitting here just getting something cash
• 16:48
  Speaker 7: flow and just getting something, you know, able to turn
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: a profit and move forward. And my taxes are doubled.
• 16:57
  Speaker 7: And that's kind of unfortunate as a business owner.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying, but it is true that
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: if you get a piece of rundown property, say, I'm
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: going to throw out a number. Say it's worth $ 50, 000
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: and you're paying taxes on $ 50, 000 and you remodel it
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and rehabilitate it. and now it is worth $ 500, 000, you
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: can expect you are going to have to pay more
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: taxes on it because it's a higher value. I mean,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: you can't... I understand how hard it is. You think, here,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I'm putting my money and my effort into making this
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: area better or this building better or facility better, but
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: now my taxes are going to go up. But I
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: would ask, what is the assessor's choice then? Because you
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: definitely have a building... worth a lot more money. And
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the double-edged sword on that is that if you would
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: go to sell that building, you're going to be pretty
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: happy that the value now is $ 500, 000 rather than $ 50, 000.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: So when you go to sell it, you're happy that
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: that value's up. But when you're hit with that bill,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I understand it can be really hard. You put a
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: lot of time and effort in it and want it
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: to be better for that area or for the community,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: and then look what you get. So understand what you're saying.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: But I don't think that the assessor, in all honesty,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: would have any option to say, okay, now this building
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: is worth $ 500, 000, but you're going to keep your taxes
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: at 50.
• 18:29
  Speaker 8: Yeah, Jean.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: And I do have some emails coming in about the
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: assessing of properties and the assessors. We'll get into those
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: here when we come back from the break. But I
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: want to get one more phone call in from Mark. Mark,
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: pretty briefly here, what's on your mind? You're live with
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Jean Stothert on KFAB.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 18:44
  Speaker 8: Sure.
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: Number one is... Hey, good morning. Number one, the assessor
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: has nothing to do with it. There's state... I mean, yes, they...
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: But most people don't realize there's a state law that
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: already caps assessed value on farm ground. So farm ground,
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: there's a state law that says it can't be assessed
• 19:04
  Speaker 6: more than 75% of the market value.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: You're correct, yes.
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: And all they do is just raise the levies. And
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: it is the public schools... That's, you know, 100% correct, Adam.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: I am wrong.
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: I didn't show up at a school board meeting ever,
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: and I will do that now. So that is my fault. And,
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: you know, and that is correct. We have people that just,
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: you know, they just raise a levy. It's just a
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: number on a card. And that's where our property tax
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: are going in.
• 19:36
  Speaker 8: What's his name?
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: The Goff, the economics guy from Nebraska shows clearly that
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: that if we lower our property tax, raise our sales
• 19:45
  Speaker 6: tax a little bit, the money equals out to the same,
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: and yet it's a huge economic benefit to Nebraska. And
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: I don't understand why our legislature can't get together and
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: get that done. I don't understand that.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your call. But let me just, I'm
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: going to tell you just the reality of, say, with
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the city. Because I know in the past, well, 13
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: years now, the city of Omaha did not raise the levy.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, when I was mayor, I made five recommendations
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to lower the levy. So the levy with the city
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of Omaha... is much lower in 2026 than it was
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: in 2013. However, it's only a small percentage of your
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: total bill. And I've said this many times, I'm gonna
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: say it again. If you look at that property tax
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: bill that you got, your little green card, and you
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: look at the breakdown, City of Omaha gets 22%. So
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: when I lowered the levy five different times, I lowered
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the levy of 22% and you don't see hardly anything
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: that is of any significance on your bill. Douglas County
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: is 12.5% of your total bill. Metro Transit, Metro Community College,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the NRDs, they're small percentages, but 62, 63% goes to
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: your public school. That's what you really need to be
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: looking at because when they lower the levy, then you're
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: really going to see a difference. And I can tell you,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Omaha Public School is going to be raising your levy.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: to take care of the air that was made. And
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: so they're going to be raising your levy. I don't
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: know Millard's. I did ask about Millard's. They haven't made
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: a decision yet. I think Millard does theirs in the fall.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: But I have heard that Millard is considering lowering the levy.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: That's what you want to hear. But when you go
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: back to what would really make a difference, you are
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: so right. You brought up sales tax. And you brought
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: up the property tax. We're talking about property taxes now.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: But when the sales tax, the revenues are coming in
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: like gangbusters. And yet we have billions of dollars of
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: sales tax exemptions that exist in the state of Nebraska.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And if we would either lower some of those exemptions
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: or get rid of some of the exemptions, we would
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: definitely have enough revenue coming in the state. that those
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: levies locally could be lowered even more.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Guaranteed human here on NewsRadio 1110 KFAB. Gene Stothert in
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: the KFAB comment line. My name is Peyton Highlock. The
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: phone lines are smoking hot today, and we are here
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: for it. 402-558-1110. Comment at KFAB.com because you can get
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: an email in no problem. Gene, I got some talkbacks
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: flying in that I'd love to get to as well.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: Let's go to Larry. He's been very patient on the
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: phone lines. Larry, you are live with Gene Stothert here
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: on KFAB.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Hi, Larry. Welcome.
• 22:41
  Speaker 9: Good morning. I have two things I want to talk about.
• 22:47
  Speaker 9: The bit you were talking about school boards, I am
• 22:50
  Speaker 9: a past school board member. School board members are never paid.
• 22:55
  Speaker 9: And when you go to these meetings, you will find
• 22:57
  Speaker 9: that parents will be asking for more than less. So
• 23:01
  Speaker 9: I really think we have a great metro area of
• 23:06
  Speaker 9: school boards. And I think that they are doing the
• 23:12
  Speaker 9: best they can. Also, public schools have to take all students,
• 23:18
  Speaker 9: disability students. So this has really cost so much more
• 23:21
  Speaker 9: than it did even 10, 15 years ago. Private schools
• 23:25
  Speaker 9: do not have to take these students. So that's my
• 23:29
  Speaker 9: comment on that. The reason I called, I had a question.
• 23:34
  Speaker 9: In the city and the county, people put large rocks
• 23:38
  Speaker 9: between the sidewalk and the road. Sometimes they use a
• 23:43
  Speaker 9: fence post. Is that legal, or how far back is
• 23:47
  Speaker 9: the city property?
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, good question, because if you're talking about a home,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: a single family, and there is a sidewalk and a curb,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: there is usually that little strip between the curb and
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the sidewalk, and those are.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Taken care of by the homeowner. So like you would
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: mow them, et cetera. But it is the city that
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: regulates basically what can be put in that strip there.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: So if you look in some of the older neighborhoods,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: like in Northeast Omaha, in Manalusa, that area up there,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: you see a lot of trees for example, that are
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: planted in that strip between the sidewalk and the curb,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: those are no longer allowed because of the reason that
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: they obstruct the vision of the drivers. So the regulations
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: would be if they put a fence post or a
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: rock or something on, for example, a corner, And that
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: anybody had any concern about it, Public Works would come
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: out and they would measure and if they obstructed what
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the line of vision for the driver would be at
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: that corner, they would ask you to take that out.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: So there is rules and regulations within city code. that
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: you cannot put something that would obstruct the vision of
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the drivers in that area. Now, some people, when we
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: have the boulevards, which are the areas with the grassy
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: areas in the middle, they do allow trees in there,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: in a boulevard, but that's just separating... You know, two
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: different directions of traffic. But if you're talking about going
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: around a corner specifically, you can't have anything there that
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: would obstruct the line of vision. And that is in
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: city code. I want to go back, though, to what
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: you first said in the beginning about school boards. I
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: also was a school board member for 11 years in
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Millard Public Schools. I did three terms there. True, it's
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: a volunteer job. You are not paid to be on
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: a school board. And I would be willing to argue
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to anybody that being a school board member is one
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: of the toughest jobs there is. And, you know, I would, boy,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: during COVID, being a school board member was just unbelievable
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: because you are balancing what you are hearing, all the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: unknown about the pandemic, what the parents want, what the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: parents don't want. That was a homeschooling, distance learning, all
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: of that was extremely hard. You say they're doing the
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: best they can. I certainly hope they are. I think
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: most of the people that run for school board, I
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: would say they're doing it for the right reasons. They
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: know they're not going to get paid. They know they
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: need to put a lot of time and effort in it.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: But And you are also right, too. Public schools, we
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: used to say, takes any kid that will crawl in
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: your door. And I'm not trying to be, you know,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: facetious here. But you would take anybody. And, you know,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: I remember being on the Millard School Board. We would
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: have children that were expelled from private schools. High schools,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: middle schools, elementary school expelled. And then they, for multiple reasons,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: and then they come back. And they can expel him
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: for any reason. And then they would come to the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: public school and you would have to let that child
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: in because public schools have to educate anyone. And public
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: schools have to educate people without checking their legal status, too.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. You don't check their legal status. You
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: educate that kid the best you can. And Omaha Public
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: School does have a lot more challenges. than the other
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: school districts. And I will continue to stand up for
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: them to say that, because I would say at least
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: 80% of Omaha public schools, and it might be higher now,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: are on free and reduced lunch. And that tells a
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: lot about where they're coming from, the resources that they
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: have at home, the help that they have at home.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: And so they do have a lot more challenges. There's
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: no doubt about that. But a school board member has
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: a tough job. But at the same time, The school
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: board member understands that the biggest majority of people's property
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: taxes are going to those schools. And so most of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the time, parents will say, I don't want you to
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: cut our schools. I don't want you to cut anything
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: out of the classroom. But I tell you, in Millard,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: we would do a bond issue. If we would just
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: be beautifying schools, that bond issue would be very iffy.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: If we were building new schools because the schools were
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: too crowded, that bond issue would pass just like that.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: And I remembered one bond issue when I was on
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: the school board that failed. And you know why it failed?
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: It failed because they were going to put turf— This
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: is Millard into Buell Stadium, the only stadium that all
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: three Millard High Schools use. Buell Stadium, right there on
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Q Street. They wanted to put turf. It was less
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: than 1% of the entire bond issue. And it failed.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: And after it failed, we did a lot of polling.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: It failed because of the turf in Buell Stadium. People
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: thought that wasn't necessary. We took the turf out, put
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: it back on the ballot, and it passed. So it just,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: you know, people, parents, people, residents in the area want
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: a lot. out of their school districts, but they get
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of revenue from your taxes. And you expect,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: what you expect with your taxes with public schools is
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: high achievement and low cost per pupil. That's what you
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: want your school boards to do. If they can, you know,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: get the highest, highest achievement they can with the lowest cost.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: If they do that, they're doing their job.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: Gene, that is some incredible insight right there about the
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: turf in Buell Stadium. And that really is a good
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: story that I think paints a very, very clear picture.
• 29:28
  Speaker 8: Oh, yeah.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: And I do want to get to some phone calls.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: But real quick, Kyle sent an email comment at KFAB.com
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: in response to the schools. And Kyle says, cut the spending.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: That's the best plan. If we can reduce costs in administration,
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: do it. What can we cut or how can we
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: save money? If OPS was having great success with academics
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: and low behavioral issues, I'd be less upset. But when
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: there's massive issues, it annoys me as I see my
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: money being wasted versus being used wisely.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Now, as an old school board member, I will tell
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you this, and Kyle, I understand what you're saying, but
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: the school board member immediately would come back and say,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: what do you want me to cut? Do you want
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: me to double the number of kids in a classroom?
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: The old school board trick is always this. Okay, well,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: we'll cut out the football team, the basketball team, the
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: baseball team, and the marching band. How about that? And
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: of course, the parents would go, no, no, no, no,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: you can't do that. That's the old trick they would do, though.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: They would get something that people would go, oh, no,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: if that's your only solution, then don't cut anything. The
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: one thing I think that people should look at in
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the state of Nebraska is how many school districts we
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: have in the state of Nebraska. We have several big
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: school districts in the city of Omaha. Lincoln has Lincoln
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Public School District. You look at all of the other–
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: and I'm– I usually know this number, and I'm blanking
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: on it right now, how many school districts there are
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: in the state of Nebraska. But consider this for every
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: one of those school districts. And in the state of Nebraska,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: you have to have a superintendent. You have to have
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: an assistant superintendent. You have to have somebody in charge
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: of secondary ed. somebody in charge of elementary. You have
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to have somebody in charge of special education. You have
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: to have all of that administration for each school district.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: If these school districts were combined, then you only need
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: that administration for the entire district. Now, people will come
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: right back and say, yeah, but I don't want it
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: combined that my child would have to get on a
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: bus for an hour each morning. No, I'm not saying
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: that at all. I'm And make it bigger and make
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: all those schools, keep them where they are, but have
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: only one group of administrators. That is something that the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: state would have control over. But that is a real,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: real touchy subject.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: Across two different sources, Gene, I'm seeing approximately 250 public
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: school districts.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: In the state of Nebraska, that we have around 2
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: million people in the entire state. And just think of
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: all of the overhead that has to go to each
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: one of those districts. So I think that when I
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: was on the school board, and that was a long
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: time ago, but kind of the Optimal size of a
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: school district was about 25,000 back then. For the amount
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: of administration you need for that amount of students, it
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: was about 25,000. I don't know if that has changed.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: That's optimal. You look at the smaller school districts, you
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: could see why they're more inefficient. But then you look
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: at OPS and they're twice that much. They're more than
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: twice that much. So you can see the struggles that,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying OPS doesn't have struggles, but they are planning,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: I know they are planning on raising their levy and
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: that's going to hit a lot of us. Now going
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: back to revenues too, I just want to bring up
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: that in the 2027 budget for the city of Omaha,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: and we're talking, and I said the revenues are coming in,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: there is almost a 7% increase in the general fund
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: budget for twenty twenty seven this is mayor ewing's first
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: budget and it was approved by the city council a
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: few weeks ago however they are estimating that almost twenty
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: three million dollars more is coming in in sales tax
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: and they said the valuations continue this is your home
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: property your property taxes valuations continue to increase and they're
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: getting about ten and a half million more to the
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: city of Omaha in 2027 estimated in property taxes. So 10.5
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: million more in property taxes in 27, 6.7 increase, almost
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: 7 increase in the general fund, and almost 23 million
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: more in sales tax. But the levy is staying flat.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Now just keep that in mind.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: Returning for the final segment of the day here on
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: a rainy Tuesday. David is the winner of the family
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: pass to the Durham Museum. Congratulations, David. That is ticket
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: number two this week. We have three more to give
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: as the week goes on.
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: Woo-hoo!
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: And you know what? I asked Hal Dobb to come
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: into the studio on Thursday. Good old Hal Dobb. Mayor Dobb,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Congressman Dobb, he's done so much, but he was so
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: instrumental in remodeling and rehabilitating the Durham. when he was mayor.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: And I think it's a great story to hear from
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: him what it looked like and what his vision was.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: And he also has a great knowledge of the Byron
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Reed collection. And I thought since we're giving away these
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: tickets for the Durham this week, it would be great
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: to have Hal on to go kind of take a
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: walk down memory lane and talk about the remodeling and
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: reconstruction of the Durham, what it is today, and talk
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: about that Byron Reed collection, which the city of Omaha owns.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: And I think so that we're going to talk about
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: that too. A lot of people don't realize that. So
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: it's an asset. That's a really, you're bringing Hal Dobb
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: on to talk? That's really cool. Hal Dobb knows so much.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: And I told you, Hal is, he was absolutely a
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: mentor to me, but he's still ubiquitous. I don't think
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: he would mind. The guy's 85 years old and he
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: doesn't look like it or act like it. And he
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: still attends everything. He's a great guy, but he's going
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: to be on on Thursday. And we're going to talk
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: more about the Durham and the Byron Reed collection.
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: Amazing, Gene.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: I got Frank and Bill on the phone lines. They've
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: been very patient. Let's see if we can get to
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: both of them before the show's end. Frank, thanks for
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: the call. You are live with Gene Stothert.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Frank.
• 35:43
  Speaker 8: Good morning.
• 35:43
  Speaker 10: Thanks for your time. Yeah, I'm trying to make heads
• 35:46
  Speaker 10: or tails of this tax valuation, the new assessment that
• 35:51
  Speaker 10: came out. I own a property right on the good
• 35:54
  Speaker 10: old streetcar around 12th and Harney. I get my new
• 35:59
  Speaker 10: tax valuation. Initially, last year, it was at roughly $ 400, 000.
• 36:04
  Speaker 10: This year, we had to get the building up to code.
• 36:06
  Speaker 10: The works had us up to code. They jumped it
• 36:08
  Speaker 10: from $ 400, 000 to $ 1. 2 million.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: Whoa.
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 36:10
  Speaker 10: That's sticker shock.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:11
  Speaker 10: And we went in and disputed it. And they dropped
• 36:29
  Speaker 10: it to $ 560, 000. But it's still a 30% increase along
• 36:36
  Speaker 10: the streetcar line. It's not going to be open for
• 36:39
  Speaker 10: another two years. And we've had to make arrangements with
• 36:46
  Speaker 10: one of our renters to lower her rent because she
• 36:51
  Speaker 10: can't afford it because of lack of foot traffic. And
• 36:54
  Speaker 10: how do you make sense of this?
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: You know, it's... Of course, the streetcar is being built.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: I know. I mean, it's under construction now. I have
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: said this many times. It is successful even before it
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: is up running because of the new development that is
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: happening along the streetcar line. And that new development, there
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: is probably at least one and a half billion of
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: new development that is along that corridor where the streetcar
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: will run. And that new development is happening because those
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: rails are permanent. They know they will never go anywhere
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: like a bus line. They will never change the route.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: It's going to be there forever. and they want to
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: have their new buildings along that line. So I'm talking
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: about one and a half billion more of new property. Now,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: when you are knowing that those things are being built,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: and just like we talked about before, that it's all
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: based on the valuation of comparable properties So they are
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: saying there's all this new development, new construction, new multifamily
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: being built, and that definitely is going to raise the
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: value of the existing property in that area. It's going
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: to happen. Now, I assume you are talking that you
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: have multifamily. I'm assuming that's what you mean, like an
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: apartment with multifamily. I would about fall out of my
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: chair if I went from $ 400, 000 to $ 1. 2 million. But luckily,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: they decreased it to $ 560, 000, as you said, but that's
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: still– 30% increase, and that's still a lot. But that
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: will happen along that streetcar line. I mean, and that's
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: just because of all the new property that is being
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: built along that line.
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: Frank, thank you so much for that call. You know,
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: we talk about the streetcar and all the properties that
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: are affected by it. So it was nice to hear
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: some real numbers instead of hypotheticals. real numbers and a
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: real person affected by this. We got time for one
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: more call. Bill, you are live with Gene Stothert here
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: on 1110 KFAB.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Bill.
• 39:09
  Speaker 10: Okay.
• 39:10
  Speaker 8: Good morning, Mayor. I just wanted to let you know,
• 39:13
  Speaker 8: first of all, I'm a retired CEO of a company.
• 39:17
  Speaker 8: And years ago, our P & L, the restaurant chain,
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: national restaurant chain, years ago, our P & L you know,
• 39:24
  Speaker 8: our profitability was less and less each year. So we
• 39:27
  Speaker 8: went back and we started at the very bottom of
• 39:30
  Speaker 8: each layer of management. And we asked, what can we
• 39:35
  Speaker 8: cut out that's not a, without doing damage to our company?
• 39:41
  Speaker 8: And we put an incentive behind that and we saved
• 39:45
  Speaker 8: millions of dollars. So in comparison to that, if we
• 39:48
  Speaker 8: took each department whether it's education, the city, the county,
• 39:52
  Speaker 8: and went to each department head and said, what can
• 39:55
  Speaker 8: you shave?
• 39:57
  Speaker 10: I would guarantee.
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: You the amount of tax money needed would reduce, and
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: we put an incentive program behind that where at each level,
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: however much was saved and approved, because it was saved
• 40:11
  Speaker 5: without doing damage to the company, was rewarded to that
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: department head. It's a need-to versus nice-to, whether it's travel
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: expenses for district managers or car rentals or meals at hotels.
• 40:27
  Speaker 5: When you're spending other people's money, it's real easy to
• 40:31
  Speaker 5: just do something you wouldn't normally do on your own
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: or based on your own.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: That is a very good point. And, you know, that
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: is one point that sometimes I have argued with, especially
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the governor. But this is what he says. He says
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: that government should be run like a business. And that's
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: exactly what you said. When you are in a business,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: you look at ways to cut without affecting your profit,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: without affecting your service. And that's what the governor keeps
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: on saying is that's what the government should do. A
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: lot of times my argument is government is not like
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: a business. A business is usually trying to make a
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: profit and with government, you're trying to provide a service.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, That could be applicable. I mean,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: and I'll go back to the school board. You know,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: if you say, what can you shave off school board?
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: And they'll say, well, sure, we could take out the
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: football team, the basketball team, and the drill team. People go, no, no, no.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: But there are real things that you could look at
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: to run more efficiently, and your point is well taken.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: So thank you very much for that, Bill. We could
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: continue talking about taxes tomorrow because that always lights up
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: the phone line. And I love hearing about it because
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: it's something. I mean, and we all have to deal
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: with it. But thank you all for spending this hour
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: with us today.