Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Senator Brad von Gillern

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Senator Brad von Gillern · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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  Speaker 1: I've got a great guest with us today and we're
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  Speaker 1: going to dive right in because Senator Brad von Gillern
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  Speaker 1: is here with us today. Welcome, good morning, Thank good you.
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  Speaker 2: Bet.
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  Speaker 1: He represents District four and the Nebraska Legislature. That's a
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  Speaker 1: lot in the Elkhorn area. I would say some Douglas County.
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  Speaker 2: Correct boys found out to the women's hospital, both sides
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  Speaker 2: of Dodge Streets.
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  Speaker 1: It's a big it's a big area. And he's been
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  Speaker 1: elected in since twenty twenty two. Used to be the
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  Speaker 1: president and CEO of Leader Construction, which I know you
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  Speaker 1: see there signs all over the place. But now you
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  Speaker 1: are chair of the Revenue Committee, and boy, have you
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  Speaker 1: had a job on your hands. So I just want
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  Speaker 1: to start out because I think it's so confusing what
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  Speaker 1: has been going on. Back in January, just for a
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  Speaker 1: little recap, the governor was saying that you were facing
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  Speaker 1: a four hundred and seventy one million dollars shortfall. They
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  Speaker 1: were giving reasons of lower revenues than you originally predicted
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  Speaker 1: from the forecasting board and coming up with ways that
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  Speaker 1: you were going to balance that budget. Just recently, the
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  Speaker 1: Examiner wrote that it was A two. You turned a
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  Speaker 1: two billion dollar surplus into a six hundred and forty
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  Speaker 1: six million dollar deficit. Gave some reasons why they thought
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  Speaker 1: it was going on. So now it's your turn, because
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  Speaker 1: it is hard to follow. First of all, I want
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  Speaker 1: to congratulate you. It looks like you've got the main
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  Speaker 1: budget bill yesterday to move forward. You could talk about that.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there was some great roadblocks that you
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  Speaker 1: were dealing with to get that through. You had this
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  Speaker 1: was the third attempt to get that through. So if
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  Speaker 1: you could just explain to our listeners, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: why we had such a big deficit, why it went
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  Speaker 1: from a billion two billion dollar surplus to a deficit,
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  Speaker 1: What was in the bill that was passed yesterday, and
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  Speaker 1: what were those roadblocks that you were really really dealing
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  Speaker 1: with that caused, you know, this to last so long
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  Speaker 1: and for this budget approval to take as long as
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  Speaker 1: it did. I know that there were several things in
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  Speaker 1: that bill about school of choice, So I'm just gonna
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  Speaker 1: let you take it over.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that was about nine questions you just laid out
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  Speaker 2: for me.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be back up to the first.
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  Speaker 2: How did we get there? The budget deficit? You know,
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  Speaker 2: and I'll start with the how did we get from
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  Speaker 2: a two billion dollar surplus to a six hundred and
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  Speaker 2: forty six million dollar deficit. The bulk of that was
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  Speaker 2: tax reductions, and in the anytime that comes up, it's
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  Speaker 2: brought up like it was a malfeasance issue or it
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  Speaker 2: was poor judgment on the part of the legislature. And
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  Speaker 2: I will I will say that there were during that
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  Speaker 2: times of surplus that there were certainly new programs that
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  Speaker 2: were generated, and there was new spending that was generated.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of that was COVID money. A lot of
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  Speaker 2: that two billion was COVID money that had specific earmarks
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  Speaker 2: to it and specific places that it needed to go
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  Speaker 2: and so on. So so it's it's it's a little
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  Speaker 2: bit you know, misleading to compare those those two numbers.
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  Speaker 2: But as we came into this this calendar year, a
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  Speaker 2: couple things that contributed to the deficit, again the tax reductions.
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  Speaker 2: We had the income tax rollback from almost seven percent
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  Speaker 2: we're heading down to three point ninety nine next year.
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  Speaker 2: We had additional property tax relief. As of this last budget,
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  Speaker 2: the state funds about one point two billion dollars in
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  Speaker 2: property tax relief towards I think last year there was
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  Speaker 2: five point three billion dollars in property tax collected across
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  Speaker 2: the state. So the state now funds about twenty percent
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  Speaker 2: of the property tax debt for property owners. So those
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  Speaker 2: were two major contributors. And then the one big beautiful
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  Speaker 2: bill passed and that resulted in some additional tax reductions,
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  Speaker 2: some income tax reductions that roll from the federal level
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  Speaker 2: down to the state level, and the estimate on that
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  Speaker 2: was about a two hundred million dollar hit from that.
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  Speaker 2: Lastly was some dramatic increases in Medicare, Medicaid expenses and
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  Speaker 2: some of the health and human services expenses. So all
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  Speaker 2: of that adds up the good news. As you said,
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  Speaker 2: we passed a budget yesterday and that was was a
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  Speaker 2: LB ten seventy one sounds right, Okay, We had eleven
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  Speaker 2: hundred bill numbers running through my head.
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  Speaker 1: I don't remember, right, So the budget bill was passed, yes.
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  Speaker 1: So we got that passed year on the third attempt, right, correct, Okay, Okay.
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  Speaker 2: The good news in that is that budget represents about
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  Speaker 2: a quarter billion dollars in reduction in spending by the states.
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  Speaker 2: So so in all the in all of the ringing
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  Speaker 2: of hands and in the challenges that we that we
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  Speaker 2: faced and all of the negative things that are said
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  Speaker 2: about this. We cut government by two hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 2: million dollars last year, and primarily through efficiencies. There were
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  Speaker 2: no eliminations of services. You know, all of the statutory requirements,
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  Speaker 2: all of the agency requirements are still being met. This
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  Speaker 2: is through cash funds that were idle, and three efficiencies
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  Speaker 2: that the agencies agreed that they could that they could implement.
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  Speaker 1: So that's what I was going to ask you when
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  Speaker 1: you were first saying that is so, I think the
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  Speaker 1: average listener like me would sit there and think, how
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  Speaker 1: could you have had this much inefficiencies that you were
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  Speaker 1: able to cut that much out of the budget and
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  Speaker 1: at the same time not reduce any of your important
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  Speaker 1: services that state government is expected to do, and then
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and answer that, well.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, and you're closer to this than most people
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  Speaker 2: that I can talk to on this topic. Dollars don't
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  Speaker 2: necessarily correlate to the quantity or quality of services. Just
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  Speaker 2: because you're spending more on meeting and need does not
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  Speaker 2: mean that you're doing it better. Doesn't mean that you're
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  Speaker 2: providing more of that service. So the Appropriations Committee really
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  Speaker 2: did the heavy lifting on this. They challenged each and
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  Speaker 2: every agency, each and every line item, and said, can
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  Speaker 2: you do this same job for less money? And then
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  Speaker 2: they looked at all the cash funds and they said, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: you've got x amount of cash sitting in your department
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  Speaker 2: and all of that. It's really odd because none of
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  Speaker 2: that money is fungible. I it's if it's in one
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  Speaker 2: department's budget, it can't be used for anything else. So
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  Speaker 2: they challenged those agencies and said, what are you going
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  Speaker 2: to use this money for? And if you don't have
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  Speaker 2: a good use for it in the future, can you
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  Speaker 2: still provide the same level of services for less money?
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  Speaker 2: And that's that's how they arrived at the cash flowns
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  Speaker 2: that they swept.
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  Speaker 1: So what were the major stumbling blocks? So why do
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  Speaker 1: you think that this it took three attempts to get
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  Speaker 1: this bill passed. I know there were some issues in
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  Speaker 1: there about school vouchers to attend private schools. Talk a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about what you think the main stumbling blocks
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  Speaker 1: were and how you resolved though.
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  Speaker 2: So the two big issues were the gap funding and
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  Speaker 2: that was for one year. It was a three point
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  Speaker 2: five million dollar budget that was in and actually, the
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  Speaker 2: governor's budget allowed seven million dollars for gap funding, and
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  Speaker 2: that was to fill a one year hold in funding
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  Speaker 2: for scholarships to kids or families that are one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and eighty percent of the poverty level. So these were
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  Speaker 2: kids that were getting scholarships before to attend the school
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  Speaker 2: of their choice. The once the one Big Beautiful Bill
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  Speaker 2: kicks in this next year, there is funding at the
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  Speaker 2: federal level that will provide that funding, but there's a
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  Speaker 2: gap year in between, and so the Appropriations Committee said
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  Speaker 2: we're going to allow for three point five million dollars
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  Speaker 2: for that. So that was a stumbling block to those
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  Speaker 2: on the left. The stumbling block to many on the
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  Speaker 2: right was an eleven million dollar appropriation for childcare and
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  Speaker 2: that was that, again was a pre COVID rate for
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  Speaker 2: providing childcare to working families. And and frankly, that one's
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  Speaker 2: not a left right issue. Those of us that are
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  Speaker 2: that consider our sales fiscal conservatives would much rather help
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  Speaker 2: working families get to work, and that's what that money does.
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  Speaker 2: So so anyway, so those were the two issues that
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  Speaker 2: were the stumbling blocks, and the budget, the budget that
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  Speaker 2: we ended up passing, had neither one of those issues
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  Speaker 2: in them. The gap funding is not going to come back.
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  Speaker 2: The childcare will come back. And I'm and I'm working
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  Speaker 2: with Wendy to board's her bill LB three or four.
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  Speaker 2: Winnie and I are working very closely to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that we get plenty of votes to get that across
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  Speaker 2: the line.
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask you a question. I don't really
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  Speaker 1: want to put you on the spot, but I hear
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  Speaker 1: that I'm going to anyway, no, because I have I
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  Speaker 1: have a little comment about this too. I hear the
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  Speaker 1: governor say, and I hear a lot of your colleagues say,
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  Speaker 1: we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.
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  Speaker 1: Do you agree with that statement? I mean, is that
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  Speaker 1: is that? Is that where you think you are at
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  Speaker 1: that we are just spending too much? Well, because it's
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  Speaker 1: in my opinion, it's a little of both.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, because certainly it's certainly it's.
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  Speaker 3: Some of both.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we intentionally cut our revenue, so I don't
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  Speaker 2: say we have a revenue problem. We made a decision
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  Speaker 2: to cut our revenue. And as a fiscal conservative, I'm
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  Speaker 2: I'm you're gonna it's gonna take a lot for me
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  Speaker 2: to apologize for giving people back their own tax money exactly.
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  Speaker 2: So so if we can do more with less, if
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  Speaker 2: we can work smarter and get the same the same
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  Speaker 2: things done for less money, boy, we ought to be
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  Speaker 2: doing it. And when I ran four years ago, we
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  Speaker 2: had this huge surplus that you mentioned earlier, and people
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  Speaker 2: would ask me, what's what's your number one priority when
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  Speaker 2: you get down the link, and I said, my number
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  Speaker 2: one priority is getting that state money back in your pockets.
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  Speaker 2: And we accomplished that. So I think I think anytime
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  Speaker 2: we don't think, whether you're a business, whether you're a government,
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what. Anytime you don't think you have
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  Speaker 2: a spending problem, you're probably getting lazy, right, And you
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  Speaker 2: better look at it pretty pretty closely now.
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  Speaker 1: For years and years, I think really Governor Heineman dug
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  Speaker 1: in with this too when he was governor. But there
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  Speaker 1: was the issue of the sales tax exemption. Sales tax
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  Speaker 1: is a big source of revenue. Was that a big
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  Speaker 1: discussion this year too, and looking at those exemptions, not
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  Speaker 1: to remove all of them, but maybe even to reduce
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  Speaker 1: some of those exemptions. Is that still a big discussion
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  Speaker 1: in the legislature.
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  Speaker 2: There were some bills that would have accomplished that that
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  Speaker 2: did not have traction. And the reason they didn't not
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  Speaker 2: have traction is because that concept has failed three times.
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  Speaker 2: It failed my first in twenty twenty three, it failed
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  Speaker 2: in twenty four, and it failed in the special session
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  Speaker 2: of twenty four. So to bring that back in twenty five,
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  Speaker 2: and oh well it failed in twenty five too, So
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  Speaker 2: it's been, it's been, it's been tried. It gets blocked
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  Speaker 2: from those on the left that that their their argument
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  Speaker 2: is that sales tax is regressive in that people who
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  Speaker 2: make less money pay more of their ratio of their
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  Speaker 2: income and sales taxes than people who make more money.
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  Speaker 2: That's a that's an argument that goes back to the
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  Speaker 2: beginning of time. Ernie Gost I've heard him say every
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  Speaker 2: tax is regressive, so it just depends on how you
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  Speaker 2: want to collect the money and what you want to
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  Speaker 2: do with it. But no, that got no traction this year,
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  Speaker 2: purely from a pragmatic standpoint in that we knew it
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  Speaker 2: was going nowhere.
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  Speaker 1: I knew there were there's probably a ton of studies.
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  Speaker 1: But does Nebraska have more sales tax exemptions? Are you
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  Speaker 1: aware than than the average of other states?
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  Speaker 4: Yes?
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  Speaker 1: And they do.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Uh, so every every state's got to get money
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  Speaker 2: from somewhere. South Dakota doesn't have an income tax, but
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  Speaker 2: they sales tax everything, the sales tax services. So I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you name it if it's not I mean, even if
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  Speaker 2: it is nailed down or you can move, they sales
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  Speaker 2: tax everything.
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  Speaker 1: I remember when I lived in Texas back in the
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  Speaker 1: in the eighties. You know, they didn't have a state
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  Speaker 1: income tax either, but they had about nine percent sales
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  Speaker 1: tax back then. And of course they had oil too,
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  Speaker 1: so that made a big difference. But yeah, you have
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  Speaker 1: to get your revenue one way or another. And I
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  Speaker 1: brought this up the other day on the air because
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  Speaker 1: the City of Omaha's primary source of revenue is sales tax,
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  Speaker 1: followed by property tax, followed by the restaurant tax. And
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people when they look at their tax bill,
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  Speaker 1: they just think that that governments are funded with just
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  Speaker 1: property tax. The other thing I have to point out
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  Speaker 1: is property tax levy is not set by you at
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  Speaker 1: all in the state legislature. Property tax levee is local.
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  Speaker 1: It's set by your school boards, it's set by your cities,
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  Speaker 1: it's set by you know, in Omaha, it's the school
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  Speaker 1: districts are about sixty two percent, the City of Omaha
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  Speaker 1: twenty two. Douglas County is about twelve and a half percent.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's all those other taxes entities like Metro
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  Speaker 1: community College, Metro Transit, nrds, all of them have taxing
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  Speaker 1: authority and they all set their own levees and so
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  Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't all come from the state. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of that is local. Now there, I have to
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  Speaker 1: bring this up because there was an op ed the
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  Speaker 1: other day in the World Herald that I did disagree
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  Speaker 1: with because in this op ed it said, I'm trying
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  Speaker 1: to educate people about how the leving authority is done,
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  Speaker 1: and it said here's how it's done, and it's cities
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  Speaker 1: were included, and that you create this great, big budget
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  Speaker 1: and then you say, Okay, now, how much taxes do
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  Speaker 1: I need to fund this budget. That's not how I
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  Speaker 1: did the City of Omaha's budget for the last twelve years.
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  Speaker 1: I would look at our estimated revenues coming in. I
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  Speaker 1: would look at the sales tax, property tax, the restaurant tax.
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  Speaker 1: We get an estimate, and then I would develop the
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  Speaker 1: city's budget based on how much money I thought I
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: had with the goal always in mind to reduce the levee.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and I know the levey in City of Omaha
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  Speaker 2: was reduced a number of times. Let me share some
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  Speaker 2: really good news with you, some work that we did
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. I'll be
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  Speaker 2: thirty four. In the special session twenty twenty three, we
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  Speaker 2: put some soft caps on schools as far as how
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  Speaker 2: much their spending could increase. Twenty twenty four, in the
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  Speaker 2: special session, we put caps on local taxing authorities. The
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  Speaker 2: result of that, we just got a Property Assessment Division
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: annual report here about a week or two ago. It
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  Speaker 2: showed that state wide valuations went up nine point five
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  Speaker 2: to nine percent, but taxes levied only went up five
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  Speaker 2: point three nine percent. And the goal of what we
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  Speaker 2: did in those bills over the past couple of years
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  Speaker 2: was to try and disconnect the windfall from the from
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  Speaker 2: these high increases in valuations from passing directly through to
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  Speaker 2: the taxing authorities. So there were entities, there were taxing authorities.
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  Speaker 2: It said, hey, property values won up ten percent, We're
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  Speaker 2: just going to increase our budget ten percent. And frankly,
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  Speaker 2: the public didn't take notice for a long time until
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: those numbers got way out of hand. So what we did,
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  Speaker 2: what we did at the state level was effectively disconnect
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: those two numbers.
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  Speaker 1: And that's important, I think for people to know, because
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  Speaker 1: I would get a lot as mayor of Omaha, people saying, well,
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  Speaker 1: my valuation of my property went up ten percent this year,
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  Speaker 1: so you need to lower my taxes by ten percent.
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  Speaker 5: But it was so.
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  Speaker 1: It happened so haphazardly in Douglas County, and I would say,
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  Speaker 1: but some people went up ten percent, some didn't go
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: up at all, and some actually went down. So then
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  Speaker 1: you have to look at just the average. If we
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: would be more consistent with how Douglas County was valuing
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the property, I think it would give a lot more
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: stability to people and not just get whacked like after
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: a ten year period and all of a sudden their
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  Speaker 1: taxes went up this huge amount.
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  Speaker 2: And as you pointed out, the biggest piece of your
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: property tax goes to goes to the school. So you're
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: in a different school district, it's really tough to compare
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: with somebody Crosstown as in a different school district.
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  Speaker 1: And you know this this I'll go back to this
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: op ed to the other statement it made is if
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: we don't have enough money, then we go to the
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: state for state aid. Now to talk about real state aid,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: the school districts get it, and it's so hard to understand.
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  Speaker 2: I think is like the quadratic equation.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, camera, it's so easy, but the city of Omaha
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: hasn't had state aid in decades unless you consider sales tax.
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  Speaker 2: There's the Municipal Equalization Fund, but Omah didn't get any
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: of that. That goes to mostly cities of the first class,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: which are I'm throwing this out Grand Island, Carney, Lexington
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: is a big one, and there was actually one of
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: there was a budget line item to reduce that municipal
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: equalization fund this last year and I'm looking down at
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  Speaker 2: the impact of that, and when I saw Lexington was
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: going to lose one point four million dollars, I said,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I don't think this is a good idea right now.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: So absolutely, something that we did not did not advance.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: So you're pretty pleased where you are now that you
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: got Well.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: I'm pleased we passed a budget. I'm pleased that we
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  Speaker 2: cut government by a quarter billion dollars. Amazing, and please
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: that in about two weeks we're going to be wrapped
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: up with the session because we're getting tired and grumpy
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  Speaker 2: down there. So I can imagine we're bringing things to
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  Speaker 2: a finish.
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  Speaker 1: Right, right, Let's talk about a couple of your other
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: bills if I could. I'm eleven sixty five and that's
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: kind of referred to as the up meaning Union Pacific
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: merger bill. Talk a little bit about that so people
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: understand what that bill is and what you're trying to
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: achieve with that bill.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Sure, so eleven sixty five is my personal priority bill.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: It actually does things for far more than Union Pacific.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: But that is one of the primary benefits that comes
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: from that is that it has been broadly agreed upon
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: that that if we're able to do these things, Union
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Pacific headquarters will stay in Nebraska. It's a couple of
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: really key points. It's a pay for performance. The state says,
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: if you employer do these things, six years later, we
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: will provide these benefits. We will provide these tax credit benefits. So,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: and I'll just use the Union Pacific piece for my example.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: They're required to hire five hundred new employees. They're required
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: to retain three thousand employees. Those new employees are required
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: to pay an average of one hundred thousand dollars salary.
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: Too.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: They're required to provide a whole suite of benefits, including childcare, healthcare,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: all of these kinds of things. So and then there's
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: there's a there's a broad expansion in the bill that
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: expands and this is all through the Imagine Act, which
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: is an incentive program that's used statewide. There's a broader
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: piece of that that says that childcare can be provided
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: by an employer and that credit can be directly passed
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: on to the employee. Used to be used to be
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: the only time an employer could do that is if
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: they had a facility on site. This has been expanded
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: to I think there were one hundred and twelve applicants
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: in the Imagined program that could now provide childcare tax
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: credits directly to their employees. There's an enhancement to the
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Rural Manufacturing Tax Credit and the Urban Manufacturing Tax Credit.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: So and then lastly, there's a there's a we're able
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: to work in a grant from the Building in Side
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Development Fund, which is funded by doc stamp money. For
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: the City of Lexington. There were two two and a
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: half million dollar grants for them to do infrastructure, to
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: do design and infrastructure improvement for a site that's adjacent
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: to Tyson, to bring in to bring in a new employer.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: So it does some really important stuff. It's super important
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: for the state of Nebraska that we retain literally one
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: of the absolute best corporate citizens that we could ever
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: have here, and then we can do some great things
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: for other employers also.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and you know, I think it's it's worth saying,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: is we have four fortune five hundred companies in Omaha
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: now we used to have five. The four we have
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: now our Union Pacific Key with Mutual of Omaha, and
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Berkshire Hathaway. We lost ConAgra, And I know one of
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the main senators that was a posed this bill was
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: quoted in the newspaper of saying that these companies make
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: their decisions whether they're going to relocate or not despite
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: economic incentives. I would not agree with that at all.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: And she brings up ConAgra left despite Nebraska actively working
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: to keep the food company here in Omaha. I remember
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: that so distinctly. I was Mayor Pete rickets with Governor
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: they made their mind up with a new CEO president
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: CEO that they were going to move up to Chicago
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: their main headquarters before they ever talked to us, And
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I know they gave both Governor Ricketts and I very
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: little time to spend with them. In fact, I remember
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the day I was allowed to talk to the new
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: CEO and president and he gave me thirty minutes and
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: then he stood up and ushered me out of his office.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: The decision had been made. So I think that that
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: decision was made because he lived up in Chicago. But
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I think that if we offer these types of incentives,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: this is not what we want to do. Is see
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: somebody like Union Pacific leave. You know, they think everybody
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: knows that they have a merger with the Atlanta based
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Norfolk Southern Railroad, and there is always that fear that
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: are they going to move to Atlanta. We don't want
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: that to happen again. We want these fortune five hundred
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: companies that we have four left to stay here in Omaha.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: So eleven sixty five Senator, is that passed or is it.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: It passed on general file? So we've got two more
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: rounds of debate. We've got select file and then final reading. Okay,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: it passed overwhelmingly on general file I presume that the
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: select file debate will probably be similar, similar, similar resistance,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: similar commentary from those that don't understand the concept of
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: return on investment. And that's really what it comes down to.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: We're investing money. It comes back, literally, I've done the calculations.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: It comes back twenty and thirtyfold back to us as
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: a state and as an economy.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: So great to have you here today, and you have
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to have all of this wrapped up by when.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Well we kind of the last day we do really
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: passing bills and anything. It will be the tenth, which
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: is I think a week from next Friday, and then
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: we come back on the seventeenth just for some formalities
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the governor veto's anything we have to come back and override,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: and so that that's kind of a weird formality day.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: But and this is considered a short session, right, yeah.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Short only in that it's less than the long session.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Well, I got to hand it to you, there's a
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: lot of work. But I appreciate everything you've done, and
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you being here and explaining this because it
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: is difficult to understand, like you said, with over a
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: thousand bills to try to keep track of things, but
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the most important one I think is getting the state
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: budgets passed.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: I know, and that's one thing that we are constitutionally
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: required to do, and I'm glad we got that done.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: That and as chair Revenue Committee, you have your hands full, yes, ma'am,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: thanks for being here. We really appreciate it. Senator von
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Gilleran did a great job of trying to guide us
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: through what was going on down in Lincoln. Boy, what
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: a big job they had, those forty nine state legislature
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: legislators to get this state budget balanced in and it's
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of work down there. So I'm glad he
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: tried to lay it out and let us really understand
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: what was going on a little bit more than I
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: think we do. But there was what I wanted to
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: bring up first, Peyton is there was a public pulse
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: letter that came to the World Herald the other day,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: that was yesterday actually, that I wanted to address. And
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: this writer says, I called Pete Rickett's office to let
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: him know, but I'm going to answer him, okay. And
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: what his letter said was the streetcar project shouldn't get
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: more funding. And then he said no federal, state or
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: city money should go towards the street car. This was
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: first Mayor Jean stoths and now Mayor John Ewing's puppy.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: And why do you think Jean Stothert wasn't reelected. It
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: was because she didn't allow the public to vote on
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the project, even though the vast majority of Omahn's were
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: against it. Now, I don't know whether he was doing
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: his own polling or what. And he also said and
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: they should have been manufactured in the United States. The
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: city spent unknown amounts of money tearing up the streetcar
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: reels back in the fifties sixties. Let people who came
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: up with this new plan figure out how to pay
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: for it. I called Pete Rickett's office and let him
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: know I don't want any money going to this project. So,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: mister Ostergard, who wrote the article, I will answer you
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: right now, and that is there is no federal there
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: is no state, and there is no city money already
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: going into the streetcar. The streetcar is being paid for
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: by the tiff that is awarded to the developers along
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: the streetcar corrider. That's it. And you know is was
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Geene Stothert not re elected because of the streetcar? I
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: think that was part of it. I think there was
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: quite a few other reasons why also, But I think
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: that the issue about where the streetcars were manufactured, he says.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Mister oster Guard says, they should have been manufactured in
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the United States. We wanted the lowest bid and the
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: lowest cost for the street cars that we could get.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: There is one manufacturer in the United States that makes streetcars,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: and we got a much better bid from this company.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: The name of them is calf Their headquarters is in Spain,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: but they do have a manufacturing plant in the United States.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I said, these are the same cars that are being
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: used in Kansas City. Kansas City's cars were manufactured in
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the United States by this Spanish company. We got such
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: a good bid on the company, the same company, and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: they wanted to manufacture ours in Spain because then they
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: were able to give us a much lower bid and
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: a much lower cost. That's why we are using this
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: company out of Spain, and because they want to manufacture
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: them in Spain itself. We got a much better bid
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: on them. Now, at that time time when the city
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: council approve that, we didn't know about the tariffs. Now
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the tariffs are out there now and it's still questionable
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: whether there will be a tariff on moving those cars
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: once they're done, and we ordered six to the United States,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: but we didn't know that then. And this is what
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: happens with budgets. You know, you have to be able
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: to deal with the unexpected. Just like in your home.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: If you have some unexpected expense, whether your roof caves
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: in or there's a hailstorm or whatever happens, then you
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: have to deal with it and you have to manage
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: the budget accordingly. So we will, the City of Omaha
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: will manage the budget accordingly. The only thing that they
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: said they ask from Senator Ricketts, is there anything that
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the federal government can do about these tariffs? But mister
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: ostro guard, there is no state, city, or federal money
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: going into the street car.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: We have some callers on the line that will bring
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: some new things to this conversation. I just wanted to
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: ask you really quick though, why didn't we the people
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: get to vote on the street car?
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: And that's that's such a good question because there wasn't
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: anything to vote on, and that is the reason why
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: if the taxpayers were going to be paying for the streetcar,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and there perhaps was a levee increase because of the streetcar,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: then the voters would get to vote on it. But
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: like with the Arena Convention Center, the levee did go up.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: The taxpayers are paying for it. It's the City of
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Omaha's property, and there was a vote for it. There
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: was no vote for the Riverfront parks. Think about that
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: four hundred million dollars. There was no vote for the
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: new ballpark downtown right. There was no vote for the
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Dodge Expressway. And your elected leaders are able to make decisions.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Every vote that needed to occur to move the streetcar
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: forward was made by the Omaha City Council, and so
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: I did push it through to the council, but they
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: voted on it and it was moving forward, so there
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: was no reason to take it for a vote. You
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: don't put something on a ballot and have people vote
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: for it just to get their opinion when it's already
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: moving forward.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: That makes a lot of sense. We got Kevin on
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: the phone line here. You're on news radio eleven ten
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: KFAB with Gene Stoutht.
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: Thank you for taking my call. Jean. When you were
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: as mayor, who were some of the companies you enjoyed
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: working with when they were bringing a new business into
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: O mall or expanding a business.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: You know, I mean there's a lot. I could name
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: a lot. I would say, you know, the first and
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: foremost that come into my mind, of course, are for
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Fortune five hundred companies, which are Berkshire, Hathaway, Keywit. Oh goodness,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: I have to say Mutual Mutual of Omaha, Union, Pacific, Berkshire, Hathaway,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: and Keywit. Those are our first or or four Fortune
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: five hundred companies. They're all great to work with, and
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: they're local. Construction wise, I mean, I will I hate
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: to say because I'm leaving some people out, but I
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: will say I loved working with Hawkins Construction. Chris Hawkins
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: is CEO. They did a lot of our road work.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: They are good, they come in under budget, they low
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: bid a lot. I mean, they're very, very good to
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: work with. I liked working with. I'll give you another example,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Applied Underwriters. They're doing that huge development at one hundred
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: and forty fourth in Dodge Hartwood Preserve. That huge building
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: on the south side of Pacific, south of Millard North.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: That's their headquarter building, which is supposed to be opening
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: this fall. I could just name a lot a Lantaha
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: is great, Lanaha development is great. There's a lot of
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: great companies in Omaha that I really enjoyed working with.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Their presidents and CEO were always available, and you know,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: they wanted to do what's best for the city of Omaha,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: and that's what I enjoyed the most. Now, I left
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch out. Of course, they're probably going to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: be mad about that, but there were so many.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: So now, which companies did you absolutely hate working with?
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: No, I'm just kidding. Don ask that question. I'm not
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: gonna say that. The ones who left. Maybe I'll say
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: that you know, and I will say, you know, Kellogg,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I'm going to bring them up. You know, Kellogg is
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: another big employer that is leaving oh Maha. Now, I
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: had a good relationship with with Kellogg in the past.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: They had new leadership. The new leadership didn't communicate too
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: much with me. I mean, just to be to be truthful.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: The way I found out Kellogg was leaving, and so
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: people will say, well, why didn't you work harder to
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: keep him here? The way I found out Kellogg was
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: leaving is they called the Mayor's Hotline. They called the
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Mayor's hotline one morning and they said, deliver a message
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: to the mayor. We're leaving. Basically, that's it.
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: That was it.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: That's how I found out. So it's not always that
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: the mayor or the governor is the reason why. You know,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: we couldn't convince these companies, say like ConAgra, to stay here.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: A lot of times that decision was already made. But
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: that's how I honestly found out about Kellogg leaving, and
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I thought, you know, we had a good relationship with them.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: That's very interesting. Thank you for the call, Kevin. We're
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: going to get to one more call here before we
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: take a break. This is Adam. Adam, you're on the
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: KFAB comment line with Jane Stoutht.
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: Good thanks for.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Taking my call morning. My call was about valuation for
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: property taxes. I always wondered how the government could keep
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: increasing our property taxes even though we've never sold our property.
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: So there I always felt like value is what whatever
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: you sold it at. That what an arbitrary number. And
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: I think there's a case.
• 30:35
  Speaker 6: I do.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: The think is back in the early twentieth century, kimber
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: of the lady's name is against standard oil or anyways,
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: the case is about they were trying to evaluate her
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: stock and says she owed money, and she's like, well,
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: I never sold that stock. So the Supreme Court with her.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: And I always wondered why we could use that same
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: argument with our property evaluations.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Good question. And you know, it's a Douglas County assessor,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: not the city of Omaha, that values the property. And
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I always have to remind people of that because they
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: will come to me and they will say as mayor
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: not anymore, but they will say, you know, my value
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: went up on my property. You've got to do something
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: about it. That's Douglas County assessor that values the property. Now,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying. It seems odd when you
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: say you haven't sold your property, but what they look
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: at is the whole area you live in, and they
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: look at other properties that are comparable to yours that
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: have sold, and that's how they get that number. So
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: if you are in an area that a lot of
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: houses have sold, and they have sold and they're comparable
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: to yours and they have sold for a real high price,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: then the Douglas County comes out and the assessor will
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: revalue all that property and say the property and this
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: area is worth more.
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I know, when your valuation goes up, your property taxes
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: will go up because the levy that the city sets
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: for the city of Omaha will be based on that
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: new valuation. And people will say, I don't want my
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: valuation going up, but because they don't want to pay
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: more taxes. But the thing of it is you don't
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: want the value of your property going down either, and
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: that's when cities get into problems when their value goes down.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: And keep this in mind too, I always, I mean
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: the bright side of it, if there is a bright
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: side to paying more taxes. But when you go to
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: sell your house now, it will be worth a lot
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: more money. Some houses are selling twice as much is
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: what people bought them for originally, So I mean that's
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: important to keep in mind too. But that's the reason
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: why your value might be going up. It's because of
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: the comparable homes in your area that have been sold,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: and that's what they used to base it on. There
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: was some discussion the other day with Scott Vorheeves about
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: this rare verdict with Meta and with YouTube, where a
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: twenty year old the plaintiff twenty year old was received
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: a like I said, a rare settlement of six million
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: dollars that blamed Meta and YouTube for her depression and
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: anxiety because she used and was addicted to social media
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: as a child. And even though Meta and YouTube are
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: worth literally trillions of dollars, a six million dollars settlement
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: probably wouldn't be that damaging to them.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: It.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: I think it's really worth a lot of conversation because
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: it's not just young kids that are addicted, I think,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: to social media. I have to tell a story that
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: happened to me just the other day. My husband and
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: I went out to Village Point and saw a movie,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and then we walked across the parking lot to Firebirds.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Firebirds is huge, and I was on my phone for
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: a few seconds answering an email, and then I looked up,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: and I bet you ninety five percent of the people
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: in that restaurant were just staring at their cell phones,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: and they were mostly adults. I think it happens, and
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: I find myself going to face or my cell phone
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: a lot, because I would look at my emails, even
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: as mayor a lot of times on my cell phone.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: But the one thing that I think that the younger
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: folks that are on cell phones a lot need to
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: also remember it is addictive to some of them, but
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: also the dangers of them are once you put something
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: out there on Facebook or on social media, it is
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: there forever and you can't take it back. And there
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: was an issue well I was in twenty sixteen, I
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: remember it so well. But the superintendent of Ralston Public Schools,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Mark Adler at the time, and this was very very
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: very public at the time, so I know he wouldn't
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: mind me saying anything about this, But he had a
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: fifteen year old son that was cyberbullied for a year.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: He did something inappropriate with social media. He sent a
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: picture of himself that was a bit inappropriate to a
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: younger girl and she pretty much blackmailed him for a
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: good year and he ended up killing himself, dying by
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: suicide because of this, this cyber bullying. And she eventually
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: let this picture out and he could not take it anymore.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: And that's the thing. For a year he was cyberbullied,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: but it was a picture. It was a mistake. He
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: did not at the time, didn't even think about it.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: But that picture's out there forever now and I think
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: that's one thing we have to keep in mind too,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: once you say it, you can't take it back.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: It's really a tragic story. I was in seventh grade
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: when this happened, and we had a significant amount of
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: intervention at the school. We had a couple different speakers
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: come in give their testimony, and we really dived deep
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: into online literacy, you know, being able to function online
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: and participate in social media and understand that they are
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: very real consequences. And you know, I grew up as
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: social media kind of developed and technology in general is
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: really dangerous and it's definitely a sense of dependency for
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: a lot of kids.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: It definitely is. And you know, I think I'm an adult,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Neil I had honestly had I had hate mail for
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: twelve years every day as mayor, and I think, you know,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: I can take it. I mean, I just you know,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I'm an adult, and I think, okay, I'm the mayor.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: You know, let me let me hear what you have
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: to say, whether it's positive or negative. But when you're
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: talking about a fifteen year old, a twelve year old,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: a child, I mean, this can be really an issue,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: and we are seeing the repercussions of that. The adlers.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I recall and you probably do too. They started a
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: movement called be Kind, and so many people had bumper
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: stickers about just be kind, and that was their message.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: It wasn't to to really be rate anybody or or
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: scold anybody, but it was like, look, everybody, if we
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: just treat each other with kindness, then then I think
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: we would all be a lot better. So I hope
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Mark Edler and his wife Joni are doing well these days,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: but this is something I'm sure they will never forget,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure they still one hundred percent agree with me.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: There's so many dangers with social media.
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: Just to wrap up the show, here, we're going to
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: go to a talk back. You're not going to have
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: too long to respond, but here we go.
• 37:18
  Speaker 6: Good morning, love your new show. Mayor Jean, I wanted
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: to come up over the top about the street car
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: tip money is paid for, it's paid back by property taxes,
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: so yes, there is tax payer money going into it.
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: So I think if you would take a poll today,
• 37:35
  Speaker 6: it would never pass, and I don't think it would
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: have passed beforehand, so I would say, there's nothing we
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: can do about it now, but a vote would have
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: been nice. Have a good morning.
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: That's a a talkback from David.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Thanks for But like I said, there was really nothing
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: to vote on, because you don't put something on a
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: ballot that has already been approved by the city council
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: just to get people's opinion. I remember when I was
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: running for a mayor, there was a candidate in the primary,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Mike McDonald, that based his whole campaign, even on his
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: even on his yard sign stop the streetcar. And that
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: was just disingenuous because he couldn't stop the streetcar. But
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: people kind of like it. He could not stop the streetcar.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: But I will say this, the tiff is awarded to
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: a developer and it is based on the increased value
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: of that property, and it would not happen unless that
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: developer developed the property. It's it's it's abiding by the
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: state law that said this would not happen. But for
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: the tiff, the developer continues to pay is paying property taxes,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: and he will continue to pay increase property taxes for
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: the increased value of the development. And then part of that,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: just part of that that he is paying the city
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: will return to him to help pay for the development.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: So this is what is following state law to the
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: tee to do. So it is the developer, though, that
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: is paying those taxes, not you, not me, not the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: average taxpayer. Your tax bill is not going to go
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: up because of the streetcar. And that's why. And I
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: understand what you're saying, because TIFF is really hard to understand.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: But the developer is paying those increased taxes, and part
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: of those increased taxes goes back to the developer. It
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have happened without that development being there. So that's
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: how TIFF works.
• 39:33
  Speaker 4: It's a wonderful friday here you tackling anything tonight, Jean,
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: or this weekend that you're looking forward to do.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: You know last week I was really really busy, I said.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: We went to the Tanasca Center for Arts Engagement. I
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: had an event to go to. I went and saw
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Bob Dylan. But after being mayor for twelve years, to
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: have an event almost every single night, you know, this
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: is my best kind of weekend. I don't have anything
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: to do.
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: Love it.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: I love it too. I love it. That's very good.
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: This is the kfabe comment line and your host of
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: the show jeans to author. My name is Peyton Highlock,
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: producer of the show. We will see you guys on Monday.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and thanks for being with us today.
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: Have a good weekend.