City, county officials unite against aid cut
McCOOK, Nebraska -- Red Willow County Commissioner Earl McNutt asked Nebraska Senator Mark Christensen to "Please consider strongly opposing LB383," the bill introduced that will eliminate state aid for municipalities, counties and natural resources districts. McNutt said the impact was far reaching and his concerns were echoed by City Manager Kurt Fritsch, during the senator's weekly Chamber of Commerce conference call at the Keystone Business Center, Thursday morning.
Christensen said the governor was the driving force in support of it and named off a list of groups in opposition to the bill, but added, "If not this, we will have to do more cuts against the schools. My fear is either way it ends up back locally and hurting. I can go either way but I can see it hurting locally either way."
Fritsch asked Christensen to also oppose LB165, which he explained would eliminate the local occupation tax on land lines. "Other cities are taking much larger hits, that adopted the tax on cell phones as well. I don't understand why we are going after it?" said Fritsch. Christensen directed Fritsch to contact Sen. Deb Fischer, who introduced the bill and put his opposition to the bill on record.
Fritsch reiterated his stance that if the bill was enacted the city would look for cuts, to compensate for the loss of revenue, as opposed to tax increases.
Larry Eisenmenger voiced his support of LB196, a bill introduced that will change liability insurance and financial responsibility requirements for motor vehicles.
The bill doubles the state minimum requirements on uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, liability insurance, financial responsibility, motor vehicle and accident coverage as well as doubling the proof of financial responsibility amount from $75,000 to $150,000 per vehicle.
"It's an insurance tactic, we're worse off with high risk and it can make it more difficult for younger drivers to be able to afford it [insurance]," said Christensen.
Eisenmenger said "If you're behind the wheel you have a responsibility to other parties," adding that he believed the current state coverage minimums were almost like not having insurance. Christensen said he could support certain increases but felt there were areas that could be moved down and a middle ground was probably the best alternative.
Eisenmenger explained that many insurance agencies saw it as a responsibility to bypass the state minimums and if the minimum was increased at the state level, the problem would take care of itself.
Duane Tappe raised questions over schools hiring lobbyists and paying for them with tax dollars, also asking if colleges and universities were using foundation or tax money to pay for their lobbyists. Christensen said that raised a good point about ensuring lobbyist dollars weren't effecting the "needs formula" and said he would get with Sen. Adams to look into the issue.
Tappe closed out the conference call with a lighthearted solution to the many directions that state lottery money has been debated to go in recently. "I think the agencies need a lottery to see who gets the lottery money," said Tappe.