Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Jean is Back Bonds and Property Taxes

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Jean is Back Bonds and Property Taxes · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothert. I am back. You, Peyton,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I'm back.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: So good to have you back, Jean.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Welcome.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Peyton. My producer is also here today. How
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: are you?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: I'm doing really good, Gene.
• 0:12
  Speaker 4: You did a good job last week with multiple, multiple
• 0:16
  Speaker 4: people hosting, and I will get to that in just
• 0:19
  Speaker 4: a second. But we really want to hear from you today.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: We want to get your feedback. We want to hear
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  Speaker 4: your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Anything goes. We won't back
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: away from anything, whether it's city, state, national, or the world.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: And we will have plenty of good guests this week. And,
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  Speaker 4: of course, you're going to hear plenty of opinions from me.
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  Speaker 4: But it is your chance to speak up and sound off.
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  Speaker 4: You can send your emails to comment at kfab.com. You
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: can call us at 402-558-1110. Or you can leave us
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: a recorded message on the talkback mic, and we will
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: play it on the air.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, I love a good talkback, Gene. They're my favorite.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: As long as they're not too vulgar and obscene, we
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: will take them. No, they're not. They're great. I love
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: taking those. It's like people want to say something. They
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: want it in their voice.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Excuse me. Guess what? I got a cold.
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: Okay, I'll try to not cough in your ears today
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: at all. But, you know, we've got lots to talk about.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: And guess who's going to be our guest tomorrow? I'm
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: excited about this one. Highly anticipated.
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  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Candidate for U.S.
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  Speaker 4: Senator Dan Osborne is going to be in the studio
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  Speaker 4: with me and Peyton tomorrow.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: So listen in. I have a lot of questions to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: ask Dan.
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  Speaker 4: Are they still playing the you're a fake Democrat Osborne?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: He's a fake. You know, that's true. And if you
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: have any potential questions for Dan Osborne, be sure to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: send an email to comment at KFAB dot dot com.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Excuse me. Comment at kfab.com, and we'll try our best
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: to play those on the air tomorrow.
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  Speaker 4: You all get ready because if you have questions today even,
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: send them in today.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Excuse me.
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  Speaker 4: And we'll get to them. And maybe Dan will stay
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: on and help answer those calls, too. But I'm looking
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: forward to that. And then later on this week, guess
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: who's going to be on Thursday?
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  Speaker 3: P.J.
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  Speaker 5: Morgan.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: P.J.
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  Speaker 4: Morgan, former mayor. He's on the county board now. I
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: think everybody knows his name in the city of Omaha.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: And he's going to be in the studio on Thursday.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: And we might just fill up the rest of the week, too.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: But I was gone all last week. Had a good time.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: I was down at Big Cedar. You're looking awfully tan, Jean.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know why. Do I? Yeah, looking a little tan.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I was outside a lot. But, you know, while
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  Speaker 1: it was raining here. Oh, boy.
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  Speaker 4: I got to use that cough button today. While it
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: was raining here, it was beautiful and warm and sunny
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  Speaker 4: down there. And my husband, Kevin, was playing in kind
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: of like a golf tournament. It was with a group
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  Speaker 4: of men that he's played with in Maryland for years.
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  Speaker 4: By the way, he lived in Maryland for the last
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  Speaker 4: 50 years.
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  Speaker 1: Not St.
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  Speaker 4: Louis like the social media fanatics insist. He didn't live
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: in St. Louis over the last 50 years. He lived
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: in Maryland. But anyway, it's a group of men that
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  Speaker 4: he played with for probably the last 40 years, and
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: they play a lot together, and they planned a trip
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  Speaker 4: down to Big Cedar, so I went down there with him.
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  Speaker 4: I haven't been down there in a long time. Have
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  Speaker 4: you been down to the Ozarks, Branson area?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, a very, very quick trip, but I've been down
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  Speaker 2: in there.
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  Speaker 4: You know, that's where, when I grew up in Illinois,
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  Speaker 4: that's That's about the only vacation that my family took
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  Speaker 4: because that's about the only vacation they could afford. And
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: we would drive down there to the Ozarks. And to me,
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  Speaker 4: that was so much fun then. It looks a lot
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  Speaker 4: different now, but Big Cedar is very pretty. He played
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: about five days in a row and two rounds of
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  Speaker 4: 18 home runs.
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  Speaker 1: Holes every day.
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  Speaker 4: A few days they did a nine in the morning,
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  Speaker 4: but different golf courses around there. They played a lot
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  Speaker 4: of golf. I mean, a lot of golf. But anyway,
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  Speaker 4: it was fun. And then we went to Bentonville, Arkansas,
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  Speaker 4: which is only about an hour and a half away.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: Have you ever been there, Peyton?
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  Speaker 2: No, never.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, y'all, this is a great little city. And it's
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: the home of Walmart. It's where the Waltons built their
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  Speaker 4: first five and ten. And this little town is just booming.
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  Speaker 4: You can't believe how cool this town is. And the
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  Speaker 4: campus for the headquarters for Walmart are there. And it's enormous.
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  Speaker 4: But they have a world-class museum there called Crystal Bridges.
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  Speaker 4: And you know what they have? There's an artist that
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  Speaker 4: I love. I don't know if anybody that's listening... cares,
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  Speaker 4: but her name is Georgia O'Keeffe and she's from Santa
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  Speaker 4: Fe and she does these real beautiful pictures, I think,
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  Speaker 4: of flowers and things like that. Kind of real abstract looking.
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  Speaker 4: But anyway, they have just hanging on the wall there
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  Speaker 4: a picture you could go right up to that Alice
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  Speaker 4: Walton bought.
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  Speaker 1: It's one Georgia.
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  Speaker 4: O'Keeffe for $ 44 million.
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  Speaker 1: And it's just hanging there.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, you can just walk right up to it
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  Speaker 4: and Well, I was going to say and touch it,
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  Speaker 4: but you really can.
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  Speaker 1: Probably some alarms would go off. But that was really amazing.
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  Speaker 1: So it was fun.
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  Speaker 4: But anyway, we did a lot of driving. But I'm
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: glad to be back in Omaha, Nebraska. So much to
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: talk about. You know what I did last night? I
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: tried to read the paper every day online while I
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: was gone. And then I did listen to a few
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  Speaker 4: of your shows, buddy, to see how.
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  Speaker 1: You are doing. Did a good job.
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  Speaker 4: But anyway, then I was brought– I had to sit
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: down last night and read the paper copies of all
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: the Wall Street journals and all the Omaha World Heralds
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  Speaker 4: while I was gone.
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  Speaker 1: It took me a while to read all that. But
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  Speaker 1: now I'm all caught up.
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  Speaker 2: Now you're all caught up. I'm with the program now.
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  Speaker 2: It's not the same reading it online.
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  Speaker 1: No, I know it.
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  Speaker 2: It's not very seamless in the paper.
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  Speaker 3: Uh-uh.
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  Speaker 2: I notice you have all your papers filed out when
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  Speaker 2: you read the newspaper and you write some notes and
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  Speaker 2: you might circle something or undermine.
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  Speaker 4: I do that all the time, and I did that
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  Speaker 4: last night. Of course, I throw away the sports section. Okay,
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  Speaker 4: criticize me for that. But then I've went through everything.
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  Speaker 4: So anyway, I feel like I'm all caught up. Many, many,
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  Speaker 4: many thanks. Gary Saddlemeyer, Chip Maxwell, Kathleen Kauth, Mike Evans,
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  Speaker 4: Lucy Chapman did a fantastic job. Thank you to all
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: of you that filled in last week. Now– I've told
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  Speaker 4: you in the beginning of every show that you're going
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  Speaker 4: to have plenty of opinions from me, so I'm going
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  Speaker 4: to talk about something, and I want you to give
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  Speaker 4: me feedback. Tell me if you agree with me, if
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: you don't. But I listened to the Kathleen Kauff, Mike
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  Speaker 4: Evans show, and I got to give my opinion on
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  Speaker 4: a few things that were said on that show that
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  Speaker 4: I disagree with. I disagree with 100%. So I'm going
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  Speaker 4: to tell you why I disagree immediately. And then I'm
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  Speaker 4: going to explain why I disagree. And then I welcome
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  Speaker 4: all of your comments. But first of all, it was
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  Speaker 4: said that elections are coming up. And we know that,
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  Speaker 4: and I just want to make sure. I want to
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  Speaker 4: make sure these things are clear to our listeners. Kathleen
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Kauf did say we had two new parties in Nebraska,
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  Speaker 4: which is true. They're new in Nebraska, but the America
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  Speaker 4: First Party, and then she talked about the Working People's Party,
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  Speaker 4: and she called them strategically brilliant. But I think it's
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  Speaker 4: confusing about the America First Party because the America First
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  Speaker 4: Party is not a new party. It was established in
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  Speaker 4: 1943 after World War II.
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  Speaker 1: And when you.
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  Speaker 4: Read about why it was established and when it was established,
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  Speaker 4: it really was prioritizing a lot of traditional values, limited government,
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  Speaker 4: traditional family structures, all of the things that sound like
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  Speaker 4: the Republican Party. But apparently there's not an agreement with
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  Speaker 4: this America First Party in the state of Nebraska who
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  Speaker 4: organized it and what their direction really is that they
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  Speaker 4: are going. And so I just wanted to clarify that
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  Speaker 4: that party is not a brand-new party.
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  Speaker 1: It's been around for years, but it's new in Nebraska.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 4: There's another thing that I wanted to address because I
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  Speaker 4: want to make sure you all understand it. Well, Kathleen
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  Speaker 4: Kauf started talking about the ballot issues, which are bond issues.
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  Speaker 4: And she did say, if you don't understand, vote no.
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  Speaker 4: I am going to tell you, Gene Stothert thinks that
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  Speaker 4: this is Terrible advice. I would say if you don't
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  Speaker 4: understand the bond issues, please go online and read about them.
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  Speaker 4: And then when you look at your ballot, those bond issues,
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  Speaker 4: there's five bond issues normally, city bond issues. Last time
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  Speaker 4: there has been six because of the road preservation bond
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  Speaker 4: being reauthorized. And I'm going to get to that and
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  Speaker 4: explain those. But it's spelled out what those bonds will do,
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  Speaker 4: and it gives an example of several of the projects
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  Speaker 4: that will result from those bonds passing. Kathleen Kaus said
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  Speaker 4: a very low proportion of people actually want them, and
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  Speaker 4: that is not true. And she said, if you don't
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  Speaker 4: vote no, you've changed the math of the formula.
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  Speaker 1: There's no formula. This is an election. You vote yes,
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  Speaker 1: you vote no.
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  Speaker 4: They go up, they go down, or they pass or
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  Speaker 4: they do not pass. Now, to say that very few
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  Speaker 4: people actually want these, that is not true either because,
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  Speaker 4: first of all, The city of Omaha cannot go out
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  Speaker 4: there and campaign for those bond issues. We can't go
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  Speaker 4: out and say, vote for this and vote for that.
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  Speaker 4: That's why we always have the Greater Omaha Chamber of
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  Speaker 4: Commerce do that. But in the last election, there are
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  Speaker 4: five different types of bonds. Street bonds, sewer bonds, park bonds,
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  Speaker 4: public safety bonds, and public facility bonds. Street bonds passed
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  Speaker 4: by 73%. Street preservation, that's a reauthorization, 78%. Six percent public. safety, 69%. Parks, 75%.
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  Speaker 4: Public facilities, 70%. Those passed with a big majority of voters.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I'd like to get those numbers when I
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: ran for something. So it is not accurate to say
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  Speaker 4: that not many people want these But to say vote
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  Speaker 4: no if you don't understand them is the wrong thing
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  Speaker 4: to do.
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  Speaker 1: It's terrible advice.
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  Speaker 4: And like I said, there is no magic formula for
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  Speaker 4: that mathematical formula. But if you don't understand them, you
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: need to try to understand them. Because, for example, if
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  Speaker 4: those five different categories of bonds do not pass, and
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  Speaker 4: with the last election that they passed overwhelmingly, that was
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  Speaker 4: about $ 300 million worth of bonds. And that's how we
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: fund our capital improvement projects. So if those failed, that
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  Speaker 4: means there is a lot of capital projects with our
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: public facilities, our parks, our sewers, our roads that will
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  Speaker 4: not get done. They won't get done. And if they
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  Speaker 4: don't pass, then it's called pay as you go. You
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  Speaker 4: don't have any bonds that you can use and pay
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  Speaker 4: off over a period of time. So what happens with
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  Speaker 4: cities that are pay as you go is the cities
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  Speaker 4: start declining badly. Because if you didn't have that bond
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  Speaker 4: money to pay for things like roads and sewers and
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  Speaker 4: parks and public facilities and public safety, and you don't
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  Speaker 4: have the money, you don't have an extra $ 300 million
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: to pay as you go, then cities decline. Or the
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: other thing is, is that the city or the mayor
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: at the time and the city council not wanting the
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  Speaker 4: city decline, and this is what I mean by pay
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  Speaker 4: as you go, they raise your property taxes. Because it
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: results in a drastic reduction in income to pay the
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  Speaker 4: bond debt if those bond issues don't pass. How the
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: city of Omaha schedules those bonds, every time we have
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  Speaker 4: a bond issue, which is usually every four to.
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  Speaker 1: Five years, they look at.
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  Speaker 4: Bonds that we have refinanced. They look at bonds that
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: we have paid off. They look at the total amount
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: of bond debt we have, and they make sure that
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: we don't add any additional bond debt that would require
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: an increase in taxes. So the way we schedule them
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: is those things pass. You have money that you can
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: do major capital projects all over the city. Your taxes
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: will not go up. So to say vote no on them,
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  Speaker 4: two things will happen. The city will either decline drastically
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: or– they will have to raise the property taxes to
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: pay for these things because they don't have the bonds
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: to do it anymore. This is what happens with pay
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: as you go. And so voting no is, like I said,
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: is the absolute wrong advice. And a lot of times
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: people will say, well, yeah, but if you vote no,
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: then your property taxes will automatically go down.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: And I will say no. Not necessarily.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: They could go down and your city will decline rapidly,
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: or they could go up to pay for the loss
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: in bonds. And so to say that it will actually
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: lower your property taxes is not going to happen.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I will say that.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: And as I'm talking about that and listening to what
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: was being said on the radio, it really concerned me because,
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: for example– In May of 2020, we passed the $ 200
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: million street bond, and that allowed us– that passed overwhelmingly.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: In fact, I put that on the ballot, and what
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: happened in May, COVID hit. And there were two ballot questions.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: One was the $ 200 million street bond issue, and the
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: next ballot question, which voters approved, was a three-and-a-half penny
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: property tax increase to pay for those bonds. I never–
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: had to raise the property taxes to pay for those bonds.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: We were able to, like I said, refinance bonds, pay
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: old bonds off early, and we were able to continue
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: to pay the bond debt on that without raising property taxes.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: But people even voted to raise property taxes just to
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: get that extra money to go into the streets. If
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: the last bond issue, as Kathleen Cowell said, vote no
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: if you don't understand it, if that wouldn't have passed
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: because these street bonds were back on there for reauthorization,
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: meaning another $ 200 million, then we would basically stop. any
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: of the reconstruction and resurfacing and rehabilitation of our streets.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: We would let all our old sewers just go. Wouldn't
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: do any more work on it. Public facilities, let them
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: run down. Parks, let them run down. That's what would
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: happen if these would fail.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of really good information, Jean. And I
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: have a question for you, okay? I have a few
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: phone calls and I want to get to here before
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: we take a break. I think they're going to be
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: really good phone calls. I go in to vote and
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: on November 3rd, Say there's some bond issues on the ballot.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I did a lot of research on my things on
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: all the races on the ballot. I don't recognize this one,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: this one, one on the ballot. I don't know. I'm
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: not too familiar with it. I don't want to just
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: vote one way or the other. What do I do?
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: Well, like I said, if you if you go back
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: and in fact, you all could go to the Douglas
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: County election office and you could pull up.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: The actual language of the ballot questions. You could pull
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: that up.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: And if you want to go ahead and pull it
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: up and look at the last bond issue, you all
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: will see it gives an explanation of these bonds and
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: it gives an explanation of what type of capital projects
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: will be done if those bonds pass. Like one that
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: was in particular that we had to do a lot
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: of work on the last time was in public facilities,
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: and it included the– well, it was $ 100 million for
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: the city, but that it would be $ 100 million towards
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: the expansion of CHI Health Center.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: And so that was one.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: That people thought, hmm, do we really need to expand CHI,
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: our arena convention? And, you know, it was like I said,
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: the city cannot go out there and say, vote for this,
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: we can advocate for it. But the chamber is the
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: one that advocates for it. And they made it very,
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: very clear that if that bond issue passed for public
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: facilities and for the expansion of CHI Health Center, our
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: arena convention, we could get, we will grow the number
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: of meeting rooms. Right now, I mean, we'll add 25
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: more meeting rooms, which will result in a total of
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: 41 meeting rooms. That will result in about– they estimate
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: in about 1.2 billion more in meetings just coming to.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: The city of Omaha.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: So they explain all that in the– not in the
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: ballot question, but the chamber goes out there. and talks
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: a lot about it, advocating for that bond issue for us.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: And so these things are really important for the continuation
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: of the city to do the projects that they need
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: to do. And like I said, we schedule these so
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: it will not require... a property tax increase to pay
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: the debt. And again, I want to repeat, it doesn't
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: mean if they don't pass, your property taxes will go
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: down because inevitably property taxes will have to go up
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: to pay as you go. So that is something. And,
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: you know, when we talked about these bond issues before,
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: we've talked a lot about it. But another thing that
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: Kathleen Kalf, Senator Kalf said, that talked about cities and
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: talked about, you know, we are always asking for more.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: And, you know, keep in mind this, folks.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: I'll talk about the last 12 years, but the last
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: 12 years, when I was mayor, we lowered the levy
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: five times. Every year for the last 12 years, we've
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: had a balanced budget by the end of the year,
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: and it wasn't just balanced. We had a surplus every
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: single year. Now, let's look at the state of Nebraska.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Senator Kauth is on the Revenue Committee. They had about
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: a $ 650 million shortfall that they're dealing with. Last year,
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: they predicted a billion-dollar shortfall. And two budget cycles shortfall.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: So let's talk about who's managing the money and coming
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: out with a balanced budget and a surplus at the
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: end of the year. And then let's look at the
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: state of Nebraska who's got some real issues. And so,
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: you know, the other thing that was brought up that
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Kathleen said again is if you have money left over
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: at the end of your budget, you need to give
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: it back to the people.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I really couldn't agree more with her on that one.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: The city charter dictates, the Omaha city charter, it's like
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: our constitution, that say if you have a surplus in
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: your budget at the end of the year of 2025,
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: it does not go to 26 because you don't even
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: balance out your budget until about three or four months
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: into 26. But it goes back into the budget in 2027.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: And it is used to fund city departments, and it
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: is used to do all of the things that the
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: people and the citizens of Omaha expect to be done
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: by their government. So that additional surplus, it goes right
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: back into the budget. Or what another thing I did
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: is I really tried to build up our cash reserve
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: because our cash reserve was miserable. So in essence, it
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: does go back to the people because it helps fund
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: all of the things that you expect city government to do.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Let's get to a phone call real quick. Jen, you
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: are live with Jean Stothert here on 1110 KFAB. Welcome in, Jen.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Hi.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Hi.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: You know, I couldn't believe all the information you're pouring
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: out right now. It's like honestly mind-blowing to me. And
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: I just want to know, does our current mayor know
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: all that, everything that you've told us about just now?
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: I'm just curious. I mean, I know it would be
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: a guess on your part, but. It's so sad that
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: you're not in that chair. I'm so upset.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you for your comment. Thank you so much
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: for your comment. I will just say this is, you know,
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: I was mayor 12 years. I should know all this stuff.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: Mayor Ewing has been in the office for one year.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: He does not want my advice. He has never met
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: with me after he won the election. And again, he
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: won't let his staff know. be on my show either.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: So I don't know what he knows. That information is
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: available with the finance department. The finance department, the finance
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: director that we currently have, Stephen Curtis, is somebody I
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: hired and worked with for 12 years. I know the
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: people that work in the finance department and they understand
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: the budget. But keep in mind, For example, when the
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: budget was passed for 2027, the budget that we are
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: in now in 2026, I did before I left office.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: That budget was done. Mayor Ewing did a few tweaks
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: to it, but it was done. This is his first
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: true budget he did in 2027. And the budget went
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: up almost, the general fund went up almost 7%. He
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: did say when he presented the budget that we are
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: expecting a lot more revenue in sales tax, about $ 23
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: million more in sales tax is their estimate for 27.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: And he said valuations continue to go up. And they
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: predict that we'll have at least about $ 10. 5 million more
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: in property taxes today. And so more revenue is coming in,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: but there was not a property tax reduction this year,
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: and the spending is definitely up. And so as far
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: as the bond issues go, I don't think that he
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: has– I mean, I don't even think they're talking about
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: doing another bond issue anytime really, really soon. And so
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: he has not had the time.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, he has not since.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: He has been mayor been able to go out there
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: and talk about bond issues and what's in those bond issues.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: So just remember that those bond issues are very important
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: to the city of Omaha. Very unlikely that your taxes
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: would go down if they didn't pass and it was
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: pay as you go policy. But if your taxes did
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: go down, you're going to see your city really decline
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: at the same time. Otherwise, you're going to get your
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: taxes going back up to pay as you go.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: These things are very important.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: And so to give advice to say if you don't
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: understand it, vote no on.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I think is not very good advice at all.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Gene Stothert in the KFAB comment line. This girl is
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: on fire today. Her first day back here on a Monday.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: We have Chuck on the phone lines. We will be
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: with you when we return from break. After a Fox
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: News update, Chuck, when we come back. 1110 KFAB, Gene
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Stothert in the KFAB comment line. KFAB comment line with
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Gene Stothert. She's off to a hot start. 402-558-1110, comment
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: at kfab.com. We want to hear from you.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: See, I've been gone a week, so I'm on fire.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: You got this pent-up energy. You're ready to go. You're
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: ready to go.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I guess so.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: And Chuck is also ready to go on the phone lines. Chuck,
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: thanks for hanging on over the break there. You are
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: now live with Gene Stothert. Welcome in.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: I'm ready to go, too. I'm on fire, too.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: Hey, you're educating people about bond issues. I want to
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: say most people have no idea— how bond issues work.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: I'm going to give you just a couple things. They
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: think it's free money.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: It's not.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: They issue bonds. They call it an issue because they
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: sell them based on the market, and then the interest
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: rate is set by the market. And then if you
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: buy the bonds, and you can't... I couldn't even buy
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: the bond. You have to be an institutional investor to
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: buy them. And when you buy them, you have... People
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: that have lots of money invested with these companies and
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: they get a tax break. They pay no tax on
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: the interest on state tax and federal tax. So if
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: you're in a 50% tax bracket and you're getting 5%,
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: sometimes 6%, you're getting the equivalent of about 8%, 9%.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: return on your money, which is a sure thing, which
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: is a fabulous deal. And the taxpayers are not only
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: paying the interest when they pay the bonds back, they're
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: also getting less tax revenue by the high-income people within
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: the state that are not paying federal and state income tax.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: Does anybody know this? I don't think so. Most people
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: have No clue. They think bond issues are free money.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Okay. I appreciate your call.
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: You know, I've never made the claim that bond issues
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: are free money. I've always said that the bond debt
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: that the city has to pay, and you could go
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: online anytime and pull up the city of Omaha's budget,
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: and it's all in there. is how much we pay
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: as far as bond debt every single year. And it's
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: not all the money that the sales tax and the
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: property tax and all the other taxes that come into
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: the city are dumped in the general fund. Some are
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: dumped in the judgment fund and some are dumped in
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: the bond debt fund. But what I am saying is
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: that we schedule these. We have so much bond debt
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: that we pay every year. And what you said is
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: actually very correct when you said the interest is set
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: by the market. However, we work very closely with a
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: bond council, and they will refinance these bonds that we
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: have over and over and over. And the city of
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: Omaha typically pays its bond debt off early. And so
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: once you pay that off and once you get the
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: bond debt at a lower amount, then you can take
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: on additional bonds to continue to do these capital projects.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: But ever since I have been mayor, except for the
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: street preservations, we have had no increase in bonds. taxes
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: to pay additional bond debt. And so these are municipal
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: bonds that people are voting on. They're called general obligation bonds,
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: GO bonds. They're 20-year bonds, so they have to be
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: paid off within 20. The city of Omaha typically pays
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: a lot of those off much earlier than that because
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: we manage our money very carefully. This is why the
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: city of Omaha has such a good bond rating. We
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: are one notch below AAA with one of our bond raters,
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: and we're two notches below with the other, and that's
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: Standard & Poor's. S & P, and Moody's that do
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: our bond rating for us. And the reason that we
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: have such a high bond rating is because bond raters,
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: they don't look at just your debt. They look at
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: how you manage your debt. They look at how the
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: finances of the city are managed and how we continue
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: to pay off. Another thing I did when I became mayor,
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: if you recall, that Mayor Fahey had changed the payment
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: rate for CHI Health Center, for Arena Convention Center, to
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: interest only.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Do you remember that?
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: Fahey had interest only being paid on that Arena Convention Center,
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: and the principal was not being paid down. When I
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: became mayor, we changed that. And so we were able to,
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: with other bonds being paid off, refinancing bonds, et cetera,
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: we were able to start paying on that principal of
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: the Arena Convention Center. And the Arena Convention Center should
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: be paid off in 27 or 28 from the original
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: cost of it. And so once again, it's how we
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: manage our debt. And when all these bond issues come about,
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: and the taxpayers vote for them, they are voting for
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: basically what's going to happen to the future of Omaha.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: But I have always scheduled them so that there is
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: absolutely no increase in the taxes.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Again, these are municipal bonds. They're 20-year bonds. Gene, I
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: know you have some other topics you want to get
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: into today. And I have two emails that I think
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: could be a nice bow tie on this conversation, at
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: least for the time being. The first one comes from Pat.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: So when should someone vote no on a bond issue?
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Okay, good question.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: Vote no and absolutely vote no if you do not
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: agree with it. If you understand it and you don't
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: agree with it, vote no. If you understand it and
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: you approve it and you understand it's going to be
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: good for the city, etc., and you understand it's not
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: going to raise your taxes, and you like that, vote yes.
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: Vote no if you don't like it. But to give
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: you advice to say, if you don't understand it, go
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: ahead and vote no, don't vote yes. No, I would
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: say if you don't understand it, leave it blank rather
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: than vote no.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: And then my second question here goes to Adam, comment
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: at kfab.com. If I'm at the ballot box on election day,
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: and I don't know how I feel about said one topic,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: what should I do? I'm there. I'm ready to vote.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know what that is. What do I do?
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: Well, again, I would say if you're standing there in
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: the ballot box and you've got your ballot in front
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: of you, and keep in mind, like I said, there
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: are five different categories of GO, general obligation bonds, that
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: we put on the ballot. Street, they're sewer bonds. Public facilities,
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: public safety, and parks. If you don't understand one of
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: them that you think you don't– you're confused about it
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: or you don't understand it at all and you're leery
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: about voting for it, my recommendation would be to leave
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: it blank rather than vote no. There's a yes vote
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: and a no vote.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Too many no votes, it won't pass.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: But you could see by the percentages I gave you
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: that the last bond issue passed by, it is not–
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: that a lot of people don't even want to get
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: these bonds approved.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: That's not true. They pass overwhelmingly, and they should.
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: And another thing that I got to bring up, though,
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: that I think goes along with this, because we're talking
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: about property taxes again, is that it was said when
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: I think both Kathleen and Mayor Evans were on, made
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: a statement about if valuations are going up, then the
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: levy should go down. That is just too simple of
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: a statement to make and shows that there's a little
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: lack of understanding about how city governments work. Because in
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: Douglas County, I will say, that's what I know a
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: lot about in Douglas County. If you say just simply,
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: if valuations go up, levies should go down. How much
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: should it go down? Because here's what happens every year.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: The valuation increases are not consistent at all. And so
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: throughout Douglas County, some valuations go up. Of those that
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: go up, some go up a little bit, some go
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: up a lot, some go down, and some stay the same.
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: So how do you figure out how much you're going
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: to drop the levy? Are you going to say, well,
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: let's take an average of all of this. Let's say
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: they go down a total of, I don't know, let's
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: just say $ 5 million, a total average for that year. Well,
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: then let's drop the levy another penny and take $ 5
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: million out of the budget.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Well, some people.
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: it's not going to be enough because their valuations went
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: up sky high. Some people have actually gone down and
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: some stay the same.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: That's where it gets very confusing.
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: And so what I did is I just looked at
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: what the revenue was that we anticipate was coming in.
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: I gave each city department a goal, a budget goal
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: to reach so that if I had it in mind,
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: I want to lower the levy that year and take
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: money out of that general fund to lower the levy,
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: I would give them a goal and then I would
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: sit down with each department and try to get them
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: to meet that goal every year. It is not that
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: the city then turns around to the state and and
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: ask for extra money, which has been said several times.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: We don't.
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: Cities in Nebraska have not gotten state aid from the
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: state in years and years and years. And so I
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: think the state budget should be a big concern to people.
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: Like I said, about a $ 650 million or more shortfall.
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: What are the alternate solutions? We've talked about epic tax.
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: With epic tax, they're trying to push it to say
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: if you agree to this epic tax, which makes your
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: sales tax go sky high, Then we can eliminate property tax.
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: I will tell you this. No state has ever eliminated
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: property tax. So we have nothing to go on. Another
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: thing that Senator Kauth did bring up is she said
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: she had a bill that would pretty much follow what
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: Prop 13 was in California. And that has not gotten
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: out of committee. And she said that people in California
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: love it. I don't see how. I mean, that was
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: passed in 1978. It resulted in a lot of revenue
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: streams coming into California just dropped. The roads are terrible.
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: The schools are bad. Development is pretty much in a standstill.
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: And let me just explain briefly how Prop 13 works.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: It's basically... If you buy a house.
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: With Prop 13, that your valuation cannot go up any
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: more than 1% of what your purchase was. And then
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: it can't go up with the purchase. And then it
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: can't go up annually more than 2% until your property
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: is sold. Okay, so let me just give you an
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: example of the problem. If you bought, Peyton, if you
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: bought a house in 1990, And say you paid $ 200, 000
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: for that house. You're going to be paying about $ 3, 200
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: in property taxes. In 2024, you could buy the same
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: exact house. But now in 2024, that house in California
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: is worth $ 850, 000. Same exact house. But the guy that
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: bought it in 1990 is going to be paying $ 3, 200
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: in tax. The person that bought the same house in
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: 2024 is going to be paying $ 8, 500 in property taxes
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: because the value of the house will go up, but
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: you're not paying any more taxes on it. That's the
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: problem with Prop 13. Here on a Monday morning, Gene Stothert,
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: host of the show. My name is Peyton Highlock, running
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: the board.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: And I'm just going to say, Gene, I'm excited to
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: have Dan Osborne in the studio tomorrow.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be fun.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: I have, oh boy, do I have a lot of
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: questions to ask. I think that should be really fun.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: Don't forget to tune in for that 10 to 11 a.m. tomorrow.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: Gene Stothert in the KFAB comment line with guest in studio,
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Dan Osborne. And I got an email from Nick, comment
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: at KFAB.com. Gene, is the overall assessment process the chief
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: villain process? In the property tax system? If so, what's
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: the solution? And whose responsibility is it to fix it?
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: End of the email. I will just acknowledge, and I
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: don't have the answer, but that feels like a loaded question.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah.
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: I mean, if the solution was simple, it would have
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: been done a long time ago. But keep in mind
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: that property taxes are local. It's your local– School districts
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: that take most of it, of what you pay in
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: your property taxes, they take about between 60 and 70
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: percent goes to the schools. And then it's the city
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: and then it's Douglas County and then it's the NRD
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: and then it's, you know, Metro Community College. and all
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: those taxing entities set the levy. So that's set locally.
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: What the state can do is they can make state
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: laws to say things like, we are going to cap
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: the amount of revenue that comes in your city, and
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: if that revenue is higher than some certain percentage, then
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: you will have to.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: Lower your levy.
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, the state can have options to do, but
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: I think the state, in my opinion personally, doesn't need
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: to be as concerned about what the city is doing.
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: The state needs to get their act together and balance
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: out the state's budget because Omaha, for example, like I
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: said before, has a balanced budget and have a surplus
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: at the end of the year where the state is
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: in a huge shortfall that they're going to have to
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: figure out some way or another. Now, what is the solution?
• 38:06
  Speaker 4: If you lower the property taxes, that's less revenue coming in.
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: Sales tax is the largest amount of revenue that comes
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: in the city of Omaha. We get more sales tax
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: into our budget than we do property taxes. So what
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: about all these sales tax exemptions that the state of
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: Nebraska has in place? Should we get rid of some
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: of the exemptions? Should we lower some of the exemptions?
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: I would never support getting rid of the exemption for
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: food at all.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: That's nothing that I know of where... I would go.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't go that direction at all.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: But, I mean, the state needs to look at what
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: the state can do to help out with state law. Now,
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: another thing with the assessors is they can, through state law,
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: say the assessor must revalue your property at least once
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: a year or once every two years. They could put
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: that in state law. The assessor only does what state
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: law tells them to do. And so it's not that
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: the assessor is the bad guy in here. The assessor
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: is doing what the state has told him to do. But,
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: you know, some houses aren't revalued, but maybe once every
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: 10 years or every eight years, and then you get
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: whacked with this huge increase and you're saying, geez, how
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: can I afford this? And so the assessor is not
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: the devil in this whole scenario, but it is the
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: assessor that does come out and revalue property. But the
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: levies themselves are set by your taxing authorities, like the city,
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: like the school districts every year. You know Omaha Public School,
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: because of that big snafu with the amount of state
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: aid they had, they are going to raise the levy
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: for all those that live in OPS to help rectify
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: that shortfall that they have.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And I know that we've had a lot of
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: things to talk about today, Gene. You're welcome back today
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: on a Monday. And I know that there's a lot
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: of things that people have asked me today that we
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: haven't had the time to get into. I know we
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: have some guests throughout the week, but I would love
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: to get to some of these emails from you, the listeners,
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: because I've gotten some tremendous reception today.
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: Good, good.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: And you know what?
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Let's do that.
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: We'll have Dan Osborne on the first at the top
• 40:29
  Speaker 4: of the hour tomorrow. And then we'll try to get
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: to all of your questions, each and every one of them.
• 40:34
  Speaker 4: We'll get to them. Whether I have the right answer
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: or not, we'll get to those tomorrow. You know, before
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: we go off the air, I want to say one thing.
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: I want to say happy birthday to a beautiful lady
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: named Dorothy Beitler. Dorothy Beitler lives in Omaha. She just
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: had her 100th birthday. I ran into her the other day,
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: and she was out shopping. I mean, she had pretty
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: clothes on and makeup on, and she is just an
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: adorable lady. Her son is Chris Beitler, who was the
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: mayor of Lincoln. He was the mayor of Lincoln from
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: 2007 to 2019. He was mayor for 12 years, like
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: I was, and he was the 51st mayor of Lincoln,
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: like I was the 51st mayor of Omaha.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Is a Republican. And so Dorothy used to send me
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: campaign money. She's a doll.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: But Dorothy, if you are listening by any chance, happy,
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: happy 100th birthday to you.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: Well, Dorothy, happy birthday. 100 years old. That's quite remarkable.
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: She looked absolutely great. But that's it for us today.
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it, Peyton? Thank
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: you all for spending this hour with us. We'd love
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: for you to join us again tomorrow. Dan Osborne will
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: be into the studio, and we will get to the
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: emails that you sent today, tomorrow, on the bottom of
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: the show in the second half hour.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: I'm Jean Stothert. It's great to be back, and this
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: is 1110 KFAB.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: Something to talk about.