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No Tax Levy Increase in Papio NRD’s Approved Proposed Budget

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8/11/17

Contact: John Winkler, General Manager
Office Phone 444-6222
Cell Phone 402-616-2457 

 

Papio-Missouri River NRD Board Approves Proposed 2018 Budget
No Increase in Tax Levy

Omaha, NE: At its August 10th meeting, the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District Board of Directors heard public comments and then voted to propose a Fiscal Year 2018 general operating budget that will, once again, require no increase in the NRD property tax levy.

“The District’s property tax levy will remain the same as last year,” said NRD General Manager, John Winkler. “This is 12 out of 13 years the District has either decreased or kept the tax levy the same. We work extremely hard to leverage federal and state cost sharing on projects to save local taxpayers millions of dollars,” said Winkler.

In addition, Winkler said the FY 2018 proposed budget is $1.5 million less than last year and the District is able to maintain a responsible budget and healthy financial position despite increases in costs like permitting, insurance, wages, materials and land costs.

The proposed budget calls for a FY 2018 property tax levy of .038034 per $100 of assessed valuation. This means that a homeowner with property valued at $100,000 would pay a total of $38.03 in property taxes next year to support NRD projects.The budget calls for an estimated $23 million in revenue from the NRD’s property tax levy. Total spending is estimated at just under $69 million.

The Papio-Missouri River NRD’s property tax levy amounts to less than two percent of the total property tax bill for residents living within the District’s six-county area.The levy is based on an estimated 3.5 percent increase in valuations across the district, which includes all of Sarpy, Douglas, Washington and Dakota counties, plus the eastern 60% of Burt and Thurston counties.

The NRD Board of Directors will hold a public hearing, approve a final budget and set the tax levy at its September 14th board meeting in Dakota City.

 

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Draft Preliminary Groundwater Plan Approved

At their March 9 Board of Directors meeting the board approved a preliminary draft Groundwater Management Plan for the six-county NRD area including Sarpy, Douglas, Washington, and Dakota Counties plus the eastern portions of Burt and Thurston Counties in Nebraska.

The plan was last updated by the Papio-Missouri River NRD in 1994. Since 1994, a significant amount of hydrogeologic information has been gathered on the distribution of groundwater aquifers across the district. Furthermore, with over 30 years of groundwater monitoring data, information on specific areas within the district with water quantity and quality issues have been identified.      “Over 750,000 people live in the Papio-Missouri River NRD area and many rely on clean groundwater as their drinking water supply, and for irrigation as well as businesses across the district rely on groundwater for various industrial uses,” said John Winkler, NRD General Manager.

The NRD hosted a series of stakeholder committee meetings across the six-county area. These volunteer stakeholder committees represented groundwater users in the NRD and the meetings were also attended by County, State, and Federal agencies who provided technical assistance and advice. The role of Stakeholder groups was to convey local groundwater concerns, help define groundwater life goals and management objectives, help identify appropriate resources management actions, and serve as educators/advocates for groundwater in their communities.

Since the completion of stakeholder committee meetings last November, a preliminary draft update to the NRD’s GMP has been completed. This document is intended to entirely replace the existing 1994 plan. This draft plan will now be submitted to the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR) for their statutory 90-day review period. NDNR will also solicit other state agency comments. Following NDNR’s review and comment, a draft GMP will be the subject of a public hearing to be held prior to final approval of the plan by the Papio-Missouri River NRD Board of Directors.

Winkler noted that “we are blessed with an abundant supply of good groundwater in most areas of the district and the goal of the plan is to sustain the quantity and quality of the groundwater we have.”

See the Draft Plan here

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