County cuts tax request, levy

Monday, September 15, 2014

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Red Willow County, Nebraska, commissioners finished up their yearly budget work, lowering the county's tax request and tax levy for 2014-15.

Because of an increase in the county's tax valuation -- from $931,795,554 in 2013-14 to $1,128,594,832 in 2014-15 -- commissioners were able to drop the county's tax request from $3,812,909 in 2013-14 to $3,509,089 in 2014-15, and reduce the county's tax levy from 41 cents ($0.409200) to 31 cents ($.0310926) per $100 of tax valuation in the new 2014-15 budget. (These figures were corrected from an earlier version.)

The new budget indicates total expenditures of $20,625,000, which includes the $7,832,751 budget for the county-owned Hillcrest Nursing Home.

By reducing the self-insurance fund's cash reserves and thereby reducing the county's tax request, the county's restricted funds authority was reduced by $1,627.29, bringing it into compliance with the state's regulations on the rate of growth each year (generally 2.5 percent) within a government's budget. The budget had been out of compliance by about $10,000.

In annual budgetary action, commissioners:

* Approved a decision to increase the base of restricted funds by an additional 1 percent, which would provide an additional $39,600.

* Adopted the budget for 2014-2015 after a public hearing, which no one from the public attended.

* Set their final tax request at $3,509,089 in a special hearing.

* Adopted a resolution to transfer $234,000 in 2014 levy taxes from the general fund to the road/bridge fund.

* Adopted a resolution to transfer $649,006 in 2014 levy taxes from the general fund to the self-insurance fund.

* At the recommendation of the state auditor to eliminate as many budget fund designations as possible, commissioners adopted a resolution closing the planning and zoning fund 0960, added a planning and zoning function 608 to the general fund and transferred the balance of $2,373.26 to the general fund.

* Adopted a resolution to transfer the fund balance of nursing home bond fund 3203 and any back taxes collected after June 30, 2014, to the Hillcrest Nursing Home Operation Fund 5100.

* Adopted a resolution to transfer $62,200.68 from the Road Fund 0300 to Highway Bond allocation Fund 3700 in order to make the third of three principal and interest payments on the bonds to rebuild the bridge north of the former Republican Valley school.

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