Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / GOV Candidate Lynne Walz in-studio

Transcript

GOV Candidate Lynne Walz in-studio · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jean Stothert, and Peyton Heilach, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here today.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Peyton. Good morning to you, Jean.
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  Speaker 1: It's 30 degrees cooler today than yesterday morning.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, I got my zip up out, my little quarter zip.
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  Speaker 2: We're ready for fall.
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  Speaker 1: I know, we said we were really on fire yesterday,
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  Speaker 1: but thank you all for being with us today. We
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  Speaker 1: want to hear from you. We want to get your feedback,
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  Speaker 1: hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Anything goes with us, city, state, national,
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  Speaker 1: or local. or the world, and we will have plenty
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  Speaker 1: of great guests. We have a good guest today, but
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  Speaker 1: you will hear plenty of opinion from me too. So
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  Speaker 1: it is your chance to speak up and sound off.
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  Speaker 1: Please send your emails to comment at kfab.com. You can
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  Speaker 1: call us at 402-558-1110. You can leave us a recorded
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: message on the talkback mic, and we'll play it on
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  Speaker 1: the air. But we are very happy that you are
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  Speaker 1: with us, and I'm very happy that Lynn Waltz is
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  Speaker 1: with us today. Lynn, is a candidate for the governor
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  Speaker 1: of the great state of Nebraska.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, Jean. Thank you for having me here today. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: And I know what it's like when you get a
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  Speaker 1: few weeks away from an election and you're running yourself
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  Speaker 1: crazy day and night. And I got to really digress
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: a little bit, but bring up the Hal Dobbs story.
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  Speaker 1: I remember when he was running for mayor in It
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  Speaker 1: would be like 10.30 at night, and he would say,
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  Speaker 1: something's open. Somebody's got to be open somewhere. Let's go
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  Speaker 1: to a bowling alley. We'll talk to people there. But, Lynn,
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  Speaker 1: I want, first of all, for people to know a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about you.
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  Speaker 2: First of all, clear this up.
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  Speaker 1: I've heard that you are the wife of Tim Walz,
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  Speaker 1: the governor of Minnesota, the sister, the cousin, the bro, whatever.
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  Speaker 1: Explain your relationship.
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  Speaker 3: Actually, it is my Republican husband's.
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  Speaker 2: Dad's third cousin. Okay, say that again.
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  Speaker 3: My Republican husband's dad's third cousin.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: Distantly related by marriage. Got that out of the way. Lynn,
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  Speaker 1: you were on the Nebraska legislature from 2017-2025. You served
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  Speaker 1: two terms. Tell us what you did before you were
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  Speaker 1: in the legislature.
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  Speaker 3: I think people need to know about you.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 3: First of all, I just want to say real quick,
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  Speaker 3: it is so fun to be here. Thank you. My
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  Speaker 3: husband used to work here at KFAB. No way! Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: he worked... With Kent Pobelka, Gary Saldemeyer. Oh, my gosh, yes.
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  Speaker 3: Did some of the national championship games with them.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. Big Red Radio.
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 5: So I haven't been here for about, I don't know, 25,
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  Speaker 5: 30 years. But it's such a pleasure to be back.
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  Speaker 2: It looks exactly the same.
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  Speaker 3: No, I think it's changed a lot.
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  Speaker 5: I sent some pictures to my husband. Anyway, thanks again
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  Speaker 5: for having me here. I appreciate the opportunity to educate people. Sure.
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  Speaker 5: I grew up in a little town, village actually, north
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  Speaker 5: of Fremont. My dad was a farmer. So I grew
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  Speaker 5: up on a farm, absolutely loved doing that. Right after
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  Speaker 5: high school, I went to work for a company called NCORE,
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  Speaker 5: which serves people with developmental disabilities. So at age 18,
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  Speaker 5: I packed up the things that I had in my.
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  Speaker 3: Home and I moved into a home.
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  Speaker 5: That I shared with three ladies who have developmental disabilities.
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  Speaker 5: And I think that's really where I started My Servant's Heart.
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  Speaker 5: My parents were really, really faithful. Very faithful people. But
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  Speaker 5: other than that, I worked in that area of developmental
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  Speaker 5: disabilities for a long time. I went back to school
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  Speaker 5: after I had a couple kids, got my teaching degree.
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  Speaker 3: I was a fourth and fifth grade teacher. Okay, elementary
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  Speaker 3: ed then. Elementary education, that's right.
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  Speaker 5: Actually, Sally Ganim, who is Governor Heinemann's wife, hired me
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  Speaker 5: for my first position.
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  Speaker 3: No kidding. Fourth grade teacher at Fremont Public, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Okay. I....
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  Speaker 5: Went back to school again and got my real estate license.
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  Speaker 5: And I still have my real estate license today with
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  Speaker 5: Don Peterson and Associates. In 2016, I was elected to
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  Speaker 5: the legislature in a very, very highly Republican district, a
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  Speaker 5: Trump plus, 33 district, and was reelected there in 2020
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  Speaker 5: and won by 19 points. While I was in the legislature,
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  Speaker 5: I sat on the education committee for eight years and
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  Speaker 5: I sat on the Health and Human Services Committee for
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  Speaker 5: six and Natural Resources for two. Also really, really honored
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  Speaker 5: that my colleagues elected me to chair the Education Committee
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  Speaker 5: for a couple years. So really, really enjoyed representing my
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  Speaker 5: constituents and, you know, making the best decisions that I
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  Speaker 5: could for the state.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: And now you are running for governor. You won the primary.
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  Speaker 1: You've already listed who your.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Running mate is Bill Stephan?
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  Speaker 3: Ben Stephan. Ben Stephan. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So there is the incumbent governor, Jim Pillen. There is you.
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  Speaker 1: There's the legal marijuana party. And then there's also Brett
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  Speaker 1: Lindstrom with the America First Party. So first of all,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you, it seems like the easiest question,
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  Speaker 1: but it always for the candidate is the hardest. Why
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  Speaker 1: do you want to run for governor? Why do you
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  Speaker 1: want to be governor?
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  Speaker 5: You know, I traveled across the state before I made
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  Speaker 5: the final decision. And I went to about 20 or
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  Speaker 5: 30 different town halls. Just making sure that what things
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  Speaker 5: that concern me as an average Nebraskan were really the
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  Speaker 5: things that were concerning people across the state.
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  Speaker 3: And, you know, I felt an obligation, to be honest
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  Speaker 3: with you.
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  Speaker 5: By the time that tour was done, so many Nebraskans
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  Speaker 5: just did not feel like they were being listened to.
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  Speaker 5: I was writing everything down that people were telling me
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  Speaker 5: mattered to them on this poster board.
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  Speaker 3: Because I was a teacher.
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  Speaker 5: And, Jean, I have to say that if I forgot
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  Speaker 5: to write something down, somebody in the audience would raise
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  Speaker 5: their hand and they'd say, hey.
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  Speaker 3: You forgot to write that down. Write that down. That's
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  Speaker 3: important to me. And that was really telling to me
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  Speaker 3: walking away.
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  Speaker 5: From that tour, just feeling like they're not being listened to.
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  Speaker 5: Their concerns are making sure that we have affordable housing,
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  Speaker 5: affordable child care. accessible healthcare across the state, quality education,
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  Speaker 5: property tax relief, and those things were just not being
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  Speaker 5: focused on.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Let me just ask you then, I will say, from
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  Speaker 1: my experience being down at City Hall, the number one
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  Speaker 1: issue in Omaha is property tax relief. The number one
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  Speaker 1: issue in the state of Nebraska, which I have heard
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  Speaker 1: over and over and over, is property tax relief. What
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  Speaker 1: are you hearing? Are you hearing that that is the
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  Speaker 1: number one issue?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 5: When I ran for the legislature in 2016, I knocked
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  Speaker 5: about a thousand doors or more. And that was the
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  Speaker 5: number one issue that people talked about.
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  Speaker 3: It was not income taxes. It was property tax relief.
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  Speaker 5: And I will say that we have had plenty of
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  Speaker 5: plenty of opportunities to pass property tax relief while I
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  Speaker 5: was in the legislature.
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  Speaker 3: It didn't pass.
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  Speaker 5: We couldn't get things passed because there was no political
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  Speaker 5: will to get it done.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you about that, though, because Governor Pillen,
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  Speaker 1: I think, inherited a decade-old problem of high property taxes
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  Speaker 1: in Nebraska. He wanted hard caps to rein in local spending.
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  Speaker 1: He says over and over, we don't have a spending problem.
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  Speaker 1: He says we don't have a revenue problem. We have
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  Speaker 1: a spending problem. And he wanted the hard caps. I
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  Speaker 1: believe he fought a lot for property tax relief. made
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  Speaker 1: Social Security benefits tax-free, income tax cut. But The property taxes,
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  Speaker 1: people will say, and I ask him this, I lowered
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  Speaker 1: the levy in Omaha five times, and people are saying,
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  Speaker 1: but my taxes haven't gone down. You know, the governor
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  Speaker 1: has made, I think, inherited a big problem. He's made
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  Speaker 1: lots of advances, but people are saying my property's taxes
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  Speaker 1: are still too high.
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  Speaker 2: So what would you do?
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  Speaker 1: You just said that there's many opportunities to lower property
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  Speaker 1: taxes overnight. What can the state do? Because I've said
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  Speaker 1: this many times on the show, property taxes are all
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  Speaker 1: levied locally. It's your local taxing entities. It's your school
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  Speaker 1: districts in Omaha, Lynn, it is about between 62% and
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  Speaker 1: 70% of the property tax bills go to the public schools.
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  Speaker 1: City of Omaha is 22%. Douglas County is about 12.5%.
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  Speaker 1: Then all those other taxing entities, the NRD, Metro Community College,
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  Speaker 1: Metro Transit, they all make up the rest. Those are
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  Speaker 1: all levied locally. What can the state do, and what
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  Speaker 1: would you do as governor? You said there is many opportunities.
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  Speaker 1: What would you do for property tax relief?
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  Speaker 3: Right. Well, first of all, let's get something straight.
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  Speaker 5: Governor Pellin also inherited a $ 1. 2 billion surplus. And if
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  Speaker 5: you can't get some property tax relief done while you
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  Speaker 5: have a surplus, I don't know what's going on there.
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  Speaker 2: You need votes from the legislature.
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  Speaker 3: You need votes from the legislature.
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  Speaker 5: The other thing that is really important, and it sounds
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  Speaker 5: like a novel idea— But you have to be able
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  Speaker 5: to bring people together. You have to be able to
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  Speaker 5: bring stakeholders to the table from agriculture, business, education, and
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  Speaker 5: have honest conversations about what can we do with our
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  Speaker 5: property taxes and how can we get this– how can
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  Speaker 5: we lower property taxes for the people in our communities.
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  Speaker 3: That doesn't happen here.
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  Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 3: I have not seen him being able to bring anybody together.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Lynn, let me just ask you then, and I
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  Speaker 1: know I'm rushing because you've got a hard stop at 1030. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: so you've been critical of Pillen's property tax plan. I
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  Speaker 1: know one of the things I read that you proposed
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  Speaker 1: was exempting the first $ 100, 000 of a home's valuation from
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  Speaker 1: property tax. Is that something that you think is a
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  Speaker 1: viable solution?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that that is something. Everything's on the
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  Speaker 5: table here, Jean, to be honest with you. But that's
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  Speaker 5: an idea that we have. The other thing that we
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  Speaker 5: have been talking about is when TEOSA, our funding formula,
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  Speaker 5: was first created.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the state aid for schools. State aid for schools,
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  Speaker 1: that's right. Very hard to understand. And I was an
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  Speaker 1: 11-year school board member. It's very hard to understand.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. But I think it's a useful tool. And I
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  Speaker 3: think it's a useful tool.
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  Speaker 5: Because it puts resources in schools where they need them most.
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  Speaker 3: Every community is different. Every school is different.
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  Speaker 5: So that's one of the reasons that I think the TO,
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  Speaker 5: it does work. But when it was first created, it
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  Speaker 5: was created with 20%. over allocated income taxes, going back
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  Speaker 5: to communities and helping educate.
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  Speaker 3: Those schools in those communities.
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  Speaker 5: So taxpayer schools, helping educate their local schools.
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  Speaker 1: You're talking more about equalization then with the school districts?
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  Speaker 3: I'm talking about the allocated income tax. Okay, okay, okay.
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  Speaker 5: And over the years, that formula has been tweaked and
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  Speaker 5: tweaked and tweaked and tweaked.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Where now it is down to less than 2%.
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  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 5: Of our income taxes going back into our communities where
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  Speaker 5: we educate our kids.
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  Speaker 3: Local control.
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  Speaker 5: So one of the things that I would like to
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  Speaker 5: see happen, because it should be a local control issue,
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  Speaker 5: school boards, you know, making sure that you have a
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  Speaker 5: say in what's happening in your community schools. But I
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  Speaker 5: would like to see those funds restored back up to
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  Speaker 5: the 20%.
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  Speaker 4: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Okay, let me ask you this.
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  Speaker 1: So let's go back to $ 100, 000 of the home's valuation
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  Speaker 1: from property tax that you mentioned. I'm sure that our
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: listeners went, whoop, that sounds pretty good to me. But
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  Speaker 1: let me ask you this. Then what would the statewide
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  Speaker 1: cost of that be? I mean, I think that's what
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  Speaker 1: you need to really figure out. And what would replace
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  Speaker 1: that revenue?
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  Speaker 4: Right, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And those are all things that we're working on. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we don't have the plan. You know, we're not... bringing
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: out the plan today.
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  Speaker 5: And the reason that's happening is because every day there
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: are things.
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  Speaker 3: That are changing in our state.
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  Speaker 5: We don't even know what the deficit's going to look
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  Speaker 5: like by the time we get into session. Some people
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  Speaker 5: are saying it could be a billion. Some people are
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  Speaker 5: saying it could be a billion and a half. So
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  Speaker 5: I don't know what we're working with. One thing I
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  Speaker 5: will tell you is that we are bringing in experts,
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  Speaker 5: colleagues of mine, Republican and Democrat, who have worked in
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  Speaker 5: the legislature, who have expertise in these areas, to help
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  Speaker 5: us come up with a plan.
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  Speaker 1: Because I will go back to the $ 100, 000 of home valuation.
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  Speaker 1: People will think that sounds pretty good if I could
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  Speaker 1: have that exempted. from my property tax. But then the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: question is always, what will that annual statewide cost be?
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  Speaker 1: And then what would replace that revenue? And are you
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: going to want the schools and the counties and the
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  Speaker 1: cities then to replace that revenue? if local government absorbs it,
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  Speaker 1: then you got to deal with that too. So all
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  Speaker 1: of those questions would be on the table as far
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  Speaker 1: as property taxes. But I think that is the one
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  Speaker 1: thing people continue to bring up all of the time. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask you something else because I heard
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  Speaker 1: a commercial that It was one of your commercials, and
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  Speaker 1: it said something to the effect that Governor Pillen is
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  Speaker 1: responsible for. It either said 36 or 26, that's a
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: big difference, percent in sales tax increase.
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  Speaker 2: Was that a commercial?
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  Speaker 3: That's a proposal that he had.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so he's not responsible for it. It was a proposal.
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  Speaker 5: That is what he is proposing for us to balance
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  Speaker 5: our budget.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, but didn't the ad say that he's responsible for it?
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  Speaker 1: Because I know- He did have a plan, and I
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: think it was a state sales tax rate is 5.5, correct?
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: And I think his plan was to take it to 7.5,
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  Speaker 1: and that would have delivered about $ 2 billion.
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  Speaker 2: Is that correct?
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Is that correct?
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  Speaker 4: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: But I think that that was never introduced.
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  Speaker 2: Is that correct?
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: That plan to raise the sales tax was not introduced, right?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it wasn't passed. Okay.
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  Speaker 5: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Because I tried to look that up because I know
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  Speaker 1: that there was a lot of talk. It's hard to
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: follow the legislature with your gazillion bills that you have
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: down there. But I remembered that one and because I've
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: always questioned about the sales tax exemptions with the state.
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  Speaker 1: There are so many sales tax exemptions. If we would
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: get rid of some of these. Or not get rid
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: of them, not eliminate them, but maybe reduce some of these.
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  Speaker 1: And then when I heard a proposal to raise the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: sales tax from five and a half to seven and
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: a half, how much revenue that would deliver. But I
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: did try to look it up, and it was never introduced.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: It was proposed. It was never passed. It was an idea.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: It was never passed.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Okay. All right.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I think that that's something I wanted to make sure
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: we got really straight of that and And with the
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: property taxes, though, like I said, it's been going on
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and on and on for decades. When you brought up
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: that the governor, Governor Pillen, inherited a $ 1. 2 billion surplus,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and now we are in a deficit. Why did that happen,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: and what would you do?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I think that— first of all, I think what
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: happened is that, you know, we passed income tax cuts.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: But we passed those income tax cuts with the understanding
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: that if our state ever got into a situation where
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: our expenses were outweighing our revenues, that we would put
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: a pause on that.
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  Speaker 3: That did not happen.
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  Speaker 1: On the income tax, isn't there– there's three progressive– no,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: there's three brackets, right, in the state of Nebraska for
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: income tax? I think there's three brackets, and one is
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: for a single filer, one is for a married couple,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and then it goes from there. So there was reductions
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: in those.
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: There was reductions in those income taxes, and it was
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: when we passed it, again, it was with the understanding
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: that we would pause those income tax cuts. Because obviously,
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: you know, just like a family, if you don't have
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: revenue coming in, you can't continue to spend money.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: And that's what we did.
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: To the tune of, you know, now we're at a
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: billion dollar deficit, at least. Last year, you might remember, Jean,
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: that our legislature.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Had to close. A $ 760 million deficit.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I think we all remember it, yes.
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  Speaker 5: And we did that by robbing cash funds. And those
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: cash funds are not monies that belong to us. Those
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: are fees that people and organizations pay into. And we
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: also robbed the Rainy Day Fund. That's your cash reserve?
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: Now, you know, where are we going to find money
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: in the pillowcases because we've already robbed and taken out
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: all that money to fill and balance the budget that
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: it's going to be In this session, a billion, maybe a.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: Billion and a half.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: If you were governor, would you sign a bill to
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: raise then the Nebraska income taxes?
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: No, that would not be my plan. Okay.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: So what you are saying is that you would put
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: a pause on the reductions. Is that what you're saying? Yeah,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: which should.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Have happened, you know.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: When we started seeing this problem and when our fiscal
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: experts were telling us we're going to have a problem here,
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: maybe we should have listened to them and paused that. Instead,
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: continue to push for the income tax cuts when we
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: know we don't have money to pay for it.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about another issue. I think there's a lot
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: of conversation in the campaign around your vote on the
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Let Them Grow Act, which was legislation to keep the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: taxpayer money from funds from funding sex change surgeries for
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: juveniles and children. Did you vote against it? And why
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: did you vote against it? Or talk about that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm so glad that you asked this question because
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: this is something that needs to get straightened out for sure.
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: When that piece of legislation came, I brought the amendment
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: to ban surgeries on transgender minors. That was my amendment.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: That bill came to the floor and said, They did
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: not include the very, very, very important mental health piece
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: that kids would be able to get mental health resources
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: and help. Mm-hmm.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: They took that out of the bill. That's unacceptable to me.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: So, absolutely, I do not think that minors should be
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: having surgeries.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Okay. That's your position.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: But I also believe that, you know.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: We need to provide resources. Mental health is such a
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: crucial issue for people.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, it is.
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: And we have got to do our best to make
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: sure that we're preventing, you know, mental health crisis.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: And I think it's good for our listeners to know that,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you really read any of these legislative bills,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: sometimes there is so much in there that it's hard
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: to know what you're, it's hard for me to know
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: what the heck you're voting for.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Because there's so much in there. And what you are
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: saying is that the part that you wanted in that
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: bill about mental health wasn't there. And that's one of
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the reasons that you opposed it.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. I mean, if we.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: If we really want to take care of our kids,
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: if we really want to protect our kids, that has
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: got to be a part of the process.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Then likewise, I think you voted against– I believe this.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: You can clear this up. You voted against keeping the
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: biological boys alive.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Out of girls' sports.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: And many believe that this is just an issue of
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: fairness and safety.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: What was your vote on that? And talk about how
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: you feel about that.
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: Well, I don't know if you know that I have
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: a daughter who's a very good swimmer, a very good
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: volleyball player. And I will tell you that as a
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: mom sitting in the bleachers, if I saw that she
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: was up on the swim blocks and the person next
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: to her was 6'10 and weighed 360 pounds, you might
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: have a mom down there saying, wait a minute, this
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: does not look.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: Fair to me.
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: Or on the volleyball court, it doesn't look safe. So
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: I'm the first one to make sure and to want
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: my daughter and all other young women to be safe,
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: number one, and also that there's fair competition. 2023 was
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: a year that we started with issues that divided us
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: and we ended it with issues that divided us. That
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: issue already had policies and procedures in place. The Nebraska
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: School Athletics Association had strict policies in place.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: Local control.
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: And I didn't think that that was an issue because
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: there was already being taken care of that we as
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: the legislature should be dealing with. What we needed to
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: focus on was property tax relief, affordable housing, quality education,
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: child care, and it didn't happen.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: So would you support the Fairness for Girls constitutional amendment?
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: I will uphold the will of the people.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: They decide, yeah.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: So you would support.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: Okay, good.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: I know we're running low on our time here. Lynn
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Waltz is with us, candidate for governor of the state
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska. Let me bring this up, too. Brett Lindstrom
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: got in this race with the America First Party. It
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: is a new party in the state of Nebraska, but
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: that America First Party has been around since the end
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: of World War II. And when you read what it
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: was first created, it was a very– right-sounding, leaning party.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, it sounded very, very Republican. Now it's new
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: in the state of Nebraska. And I want you to
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: give your opinion on this, because there are so many
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: people that as soon as Brett Lindstrom said that he
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: was running for governor with the America First Party, they
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: were saying, oh, this is just going to help Linwalt
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: win the governor's race in the state of Nebraska, because
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: it's going to pull votes away from Jim Pillen. Did
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: you have anything, clear this up for the people, did
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: you have anything to do with Brent Lindstrom running for
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the American First Party?
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: No, absolutely not. No, I didn't realize that that was
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: a conversation that people were having.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: People have conversations about just about anything, let me tell you.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: Brett and I met last May before he decided to
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: get into the race, and we had a conversation. He
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: wanted to let me know. We were colleagues in the legislature.
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: We respect each other. And so he told me that
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: he was getting into the race.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: We had a great conversation. I respect Brett. So, no,
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: I don't have anything to do with that. I am
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: so focused on my race right now.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: This was not like an agreement between you and him
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that he was going to— Absolutely not. And what do
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: you think about that with him running as an America
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: First party? I mean, what do you think about that
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: in this race? And then there's the legal marijuana party, too.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: You know, again, Jean, you know what this is like.
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: I'm so focused on just trying to get to as
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: many people as I can that I'm not— I'm not
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: going to consider myself about what other people are doing,
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: what parties are coming up.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: I want to win this for Nebraska.
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: And I know, going back to those conversations that I
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: had with so many people who want to be heard
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: and want to be listened to, and they're not, I
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: know how important it is. I feel an obligation to
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: just focus on my race and do.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: The best that I can.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I always would tell my campaign, I said, we're going
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: to focus on telling people why to vote for me.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: We're not going to focus on why not to vote
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: for my opponent. Right. With the commercials out there now,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I say this on the air all the time. It's
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: just like they're meant to confuse people. And this is
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: when people get really tired of the campaigns because they
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: don't know who to believe. And it gets very, very hard.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: So I know what it's like. And I want to say,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: thank goodness that we still have people that will run
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: for these races because a lot of people won't when
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: they see the vitriol that's out there. Social media has
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: gotten terrible. And when you see everything out there, it's
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: just good that we still have people that will stand
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: up and do the hard work.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Campaigning is hard.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: It is hard.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, it is just, you have to do it
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: almost 24-7 and you're always wondering, is there something else
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I could do? So I'm glad that people are running.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I'm glad that people really care about the state. I
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: wanted to give you the opportunity to talk about why
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: you're running and And to answer some of these questions
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: that people have.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that so much.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: And what is the election?
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Two and a half weeks away now? Holy cow. November
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: 3rd will be here before you know it. But people
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: are voting already.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: People are voting, yes.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: And that's the thing.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: So we'll probably get questions that will come in from
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: our interview now. But we will have this podcast up
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: by hopefully– Peyton will put it up by about noon
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: today– So if people don't miss it this morning, they
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: could tune in and listen to our conversation. Lynn Waltz,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming into the studio and
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: being here today.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: And we hope to have you back.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: It was an honor. Well, thank you so much. I
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: appreciate it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Thanks for being with us. And we are back.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Candidate for Governor Lynn Waltz running for the Democrat Party
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: was just on here. I want to thank her for
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: coming here today. This is a busy time for every
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: single candidate. I wish we would have had a bit
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: more time. I would really have liked to dove in
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: a little bit more. to the issue of property tax
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: relief and what... the state government can do to provide
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: that relief. Like I said, this is the number one
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: issue in Omaha. It's the number one issue across the state.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Property taxes are too high, but what can the state
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: government do for that relief? And so I really wanted
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to get Lynn on the record, let her talk and
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: answer a lot of these questions that we have. Income tax,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: property taxes, all of these things, sales tax are a
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: big issue with people And people want to know, what
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: would you do?
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: If you were governor, what.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Would you do any different than what is being proposed now?
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: But I do think it is a big issue. But
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I still want to remind all of our listeners, as
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: far as property taxes, is that they are levied locally.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: That's the one thing.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: If the state, what they could do is they could
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: limit by state law the amount that property is evaluated
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: or valuations increase per year, they could potentially do that.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: But still, the levy is done locally. And as I
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: said many, many times, your local public school districts levy
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: a big get about 62 to 70 percent of that
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: revenue that comes in with your property tax bill. People
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: always think it's the city of Omaha, but it is
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: in Omaha, but it is not. Now, one of the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: things that Lynn Waltz did bring up is one of
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: her proposals is is exempting the first $ 100, 000 for home valuation.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: But like I said, that sounds really good. And I
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: know people are thinking, wow, that sounded really good. But
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: you still have to figure out what would the annual
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: statewide cost for this to be? What or who replaces
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: that revenue? Would it be the schools, the county, local government?
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: And if the state pays, which revenue source would fund it?
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: These are things that you really have to stop and
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: think when something sounds really good for its face value. Now,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: our property tax, not property, our state income taxes have
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: been reduced. And we know that. And that did cost
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the state money. But there are basically three progressive brackets
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: in the state of Nebraska. But the same thing is,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: if we stopped that, then if that was adjusted, the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: income tax, then which bracket would be adjusted and what
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: income level then would end up paying more?
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Would you sign a bill to raise the Nebraska income tax,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: yes or no, to solve these problems? So anyway, these
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: are things that I think are important, very important for
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: our voters and our citizens in Nebraska to do and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: to know about. But this is definitely– a decade-old problem
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: that we have had high property taxes in the state
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska. And so, again, the governor wanted hard caps
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: on revenue, which they achieved. That's revenue caps for the cities,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: local spending to reduce local spending. But Just look at
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: the city of Omaha if we could for a minute.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Our main source of revenue is sales tax and not
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: property tax. So if you look at Mayor Ewing's budget
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: for 2027 that was approved by the city council, the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: sales tax were coming in at a great rate for 2027.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Property taxes were coming in, but that revenue cap was
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: only for the property tax. The sales tax are still
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: coming in at a great rate, which is good. But
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: then the levy in 2027, nothing was done with it.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: It was not reduced. So you've got to keep all
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: of those things in mind. Questions, we'll take them.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, I am getting some good reception here from you. 402-558-1110.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Comment at kfab.com.
• 29:17
  Speaker 6: I have a few phone calls that I want to
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: get to. I got a talkback that I want to
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: play first right on topic with you, Gene.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: And I'd love to play it.
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: It was a little tough to hear, so I just
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: got the words here for you. It says, hey, Gene,
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: you asked her a good question about property taxes. I
• 29:32
  Speaker 6: don't think I quite heard the plan. She said she
• 29:35
  Speaker 6: would probably have to get a committee together and think
• 29:37
  Speaker 6: about it. And then she thought, about taking $ 100, 000 off
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: your home valuation.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: Whoa, it sounds great. The first $ 100, 000.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: First $ 100, 000.
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: To exempt it, right. Whoa, it sounds great. But who's
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: to say that OPS wouldn't just increase their levy?
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: And they could.
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: And they are.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, OPS is raising their levy.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: And so that is something that you really have to
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: consider when they're saying, well, you know, there are several
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: options that we could have done, but they weren't done.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Keep in mind, you got 49... legislators down there that
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: have to vote to approve things, too. I mean, it's
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: not just the governor makes a decision. And so nobody
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: wants to be on the record in the legislature of saying,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: I voted to increase taxes. You know, this option that
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Governor Pillen did talk about, and that was adjusting the
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: sales tax. The state sales tax is 5.5%. He talked
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: about a plan. He had a plan to raise it
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: to 7.5%. from 5.5 to 7.5, and they calculated, with
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: a lot of people working on this, that it would.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Deliver $ 2.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Billion of additional revenue, but it was never introduced. And
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: so today, the sales tax in the state of Nebraska
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: remain at 5.5%. And so this radio ad that I
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: heard that did say the governor is responsible for, you know,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: it either said 26 or 36.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: I know that's a big range.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: But percent increase in sales tax, he's not responsible for that.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: I have to get that clear because it never happened.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: our sales tax is still 5.5% in the state of Nebraska.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: And so, you know, there's a lot of candidates will
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: come out and say, well, what is your, you'd have
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: to say, what is your plan and how are you
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: going to solve this? But then you got to really
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: dig down into it, which if we have any calls
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: I'll take, but it brings me to one other issue
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: that I want to bring up. And then we're going
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: to take some calls while I'm on.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: A roll here. While you're on a roll.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: And that is still this issue of that is on
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: the ballot for Initiative 440 and 441. And I think
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that this is something I really want you to understand
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: because it is so misleading. The brochure I got at
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: my house, it says on here, you can vote for
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: $ 166 million in direct property tax relief. This is so misleading,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: voters out there, because number one, if you read the
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: small print on this, this says this 166 million is
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: a 10-year revenue projection upon market maturity. There's no guarantee
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: that you're going to get 166 million. There's no guarantee
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: that any additional revenue is going to property tax relief.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: And so this thing, to me, is very, very misleading.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: And I will tell you, the people that are against it,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: that I know are against it, are people like Tom Osborne.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Pete Ricketts, Orr, Kate Orr, Foley, Spellerberg, Warren Buffett. There's
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: a lot of people that have already said that they
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: are not supportive of this. I know several in the legislature,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: like Brad Von Gilleran, Senator Von Gilleran in the Revenue Committee,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: says that it would generate less than 1% of the
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: total property tax burden. And that's really, so that's not
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: a real significant revenue source here. And keep in mind, folks,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: The casinos promised to alleviate property taxes six years ago.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Six years ago, when we had it approved in the
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: state of Nebraska, and it hasn't happened yet. So be careful.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Right now, with these misleading things that you hear on
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: TV and you get directly to your home, this 440
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: and 441, I would very much question this. Now, it
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: all depends on whether you support. It's got to be
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: that you support legal sports wagering online. If you do,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: then vote for it. If you don't, then don't for it.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: But don't vote for it because you think you're going
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: to get this huge property tax rate reduction because that's misleading.
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and that's an important distinction there, Gene. This is
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: 440 and 441 about online sports wagering. And if that's
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: something that you want to vote for and you agree with,
• 34:12
  Speaker 6: then vote for it.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: And if you don't like it, don't vote for it.
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 34:15
  Speaker 6: But the misinformation, the misleading expression of property tax relief.
• 34:23
  Speaker 6: Is the questionable part.
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: Of the ad. Absolutely.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: And this brochure says you can vote for $ 166 million
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: in direct property tax relief. That's what's misleading. If you
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: support this online wagering, betting online legal sports wagering, then
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: vote for it.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: If you don't, don't.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: But don't do it based on you're going to think
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: your property taxes are going to go down.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: All right, let's get to your questions, comments, and concerns. 402-558-1110.
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: Or send us an email, comment at kfab.com. Coming up next,
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: Gene Stothert here on NewsRadio 1110 KFAB, the KFAB comment line.
• 34:59
  Speaker 6: My name is Peyton Highlock and Gene. You have the
• 35:02
  Speaker 6: floor for a second here before we get to some callers.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: We got to get to the callers.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: But Lynn Waltz was on here, candidate for governor of
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: the state of Nebraska. One thing I wanted to clarify
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: because I didn't make it clear and I always want
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: to be as accurate as I can. But the radio
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: ad that is out there that I referred to, it
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: said Governor Pillen is responsible for a 36 percent sales
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: tax increase. That's what it said. And I want to
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: make sure that you know that that's not accurate. It
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: was a plan that the governor has to adjust the
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: state sales tax rate from 5.5% to 7.5%, which would
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: have delivered about $ 2 billion in additional revenue, but it
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: was never introduced. And today, the Nebraska state sales tax
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: is still 5.5%. So the governor is not responsible for
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: a 36% sales tax increase.
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: All right, real quick to the phone lines. George, you're
• 35:55
  Speaker 6: live with Gene Stothert here on KFAB.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: Good morning, George.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: Good morning, my favorite ex-mayor. Oh, thanks. The property tax
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: thing is so out of line. It's a pretty simple fix.
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: When you buy a house... Whatever you pay for that house,
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: your property never goes up. They can't reevaluate it every year.
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: If you live there 10 years and sell it, it
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: gets reevaluated. If you live there 30 years, you pay
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: property tax on the price you paid for that house.
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: And we got too many taxing entities in this state.
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: You got school districts and NRD boards and everybody else
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: that's setting their own mill levy. They don't have to
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: go to the state and present a budget. They got
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: a bunch of not elected parasites sucking money off for
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: anything they want to do. Nobody can get rid of them.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: George, thanks for your comment.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: One thing I want to tell you about what you said,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: first of all, is your property taxes should stay at
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: what you pay for the house. Here's the problem with that.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: That's basically Prop 13, which they did out in California.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: And here's the problem with that. And I gave this
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: example on the air before. Say if Peyton buys a
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: house for $ 200, 000 and he pays property tax for that
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: house for $ 200, 000, and then 10 years later, somebody builds
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: the exact same house right next to Peyton, but now
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: that exact same house is worth $ 450, 000. they're going to
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: pay property tax on 450. And so you got two
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: houses side by side that are the exact same house.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: One is valued at 200 and is not going to change.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: And the other is valued at 450. And they're playing
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: a totally different amount of property taxes. And when that
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: has happened out in California, that has really decreased the
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: housing industry. People don't want to buy new houses anymore
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: or build new houses. So there are problems with that too.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: And so I just want to make sure that you
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: understand that. Now, when you said there's too many taxing entities,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of taxing entities.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: You're right on that.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Like I said, in the city of Omaha, school district,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: city of Omaha, Douglas County, the NRDs, Metro Transit, Metro
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: Community College, all of the NRD, I think I said
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: that all of these are taxing entities that are not
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: always broken down on your property tax bill. So whenever
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: your valuation goes up, people will automatically say, oh, it's
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: city of Omaha again.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: So thank you for your call, George. Thank you, George.
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: And we did not get too many callers and emails
• 38:22
  Speaker 6: today with so much information in such little time. And
• 38:25
  Speaker 6: we will definitely get to those tomorrow.
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: Don't forget, you can listen back to the whole podcast
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: in the interview with Governor Candidate Lynn Walls at kfab.com
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: slash podcasts.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: And thank you all for being with us today. But
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: like I said, we did not get to a lot
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: of the calls and emails today and talk back, but
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: we will get to them tomorrow. But thank you all
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: for spending this hour with us today. We'd love for
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: you to join us again tomorrow. I'm Jean Stothert, and
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: this is 1110 KFAB.