Candidates square off at Culbertson forum
CULBERTSON, Neb. -- The water issue facing the Republican Valley Basin is not just a rural issue and a strong voice is needed to convey that to urban senators, said both candidates vying for the 44th District legislative seat.
Dan Hughes and Steve Stroup, both candidates for the Dist. 44 state senator position, were part of the candidate forum Sunday hosted by the Culbertson Women's Club. They were joined by candidates running in local races, including: Hitchcock County commissioner, incumbent Paul Nichols and write-in challenger, Mike Loibl; Hitchcock County assessor, Marlene Bedore and Cindy McCorkle; Hitchcock County school board (three seats open), incumbent Mike Baker, challengers Casha O'Brien, Ted Rippen, Craig Scott and Jared Vrbas; and Chad Brenning and JoLyn Hare, members of the Hitchcock County Fair Board/Hitchcock County Agricultural Society.
Questions for the candidates were asked by members of the public, including those posed by State Sen. Mark Christensen, who is being term-limited out of office.
When asked by Christensen if surface water irrigators should be compensated, both Hughes and Stroup agreed that they should, but the mechanics of doing that could vary. More importantly, "We need to send a strong individual to Lincoln to build relationships with urban legislatures, to convince them that this is a state and not just a local issue," Hughes said.
Stroup agreed that communication was imperative. "The ability to persuade is key," he said on water issues facing this half of the state, as well as the role of a senator. Both also agreed that augmentation projects, specifically the recent Lincoln County project, were needed but were a short term fix and that expanding Medicaid was the not the solution for the uninsured in Nebraska.
Stroup called for more accountability in Medicaid, with Medicaid reimbursements from the federal government already falling behind. Hughes said his time spent as a school board member showed him that promised federal dollars for mandated programs eventually dwindled with time, but that something needed to be done as costs for uninsured patients come out of county and hospital budgets.
Stroup also addressed a question posed by a member of the public that asked why, until recently, he was delinquent on his property taxes for four years.
Stroup did not get into specifics but replied that in the late 1980s, an inheritance tax issue "basically broke us." The family sold sections of land while trying to hold on to something to pass down to future generations, he said, and that took time. Later in the meeting, Stroup said ethics and morality are vital to him, "and in the end...I still need God."
Starting off the forum were Chad Brenning and JoLyn Hare, members of the Hitchcock County Fair Board/Hitchcock County Agricultural Society, who explained a resolution that will be put before Hitchcock County voters in the November election.
The Hitchcock County Fair Board, also known as the Hitchcock County Agricultural Society, currently levies .0057 cents per $100 of property valuation. For the 2014-2015 year, the board would like to increase that, if needed, to .008 cents per $100 of property valuation, to garner an additional $22,000 for the fair board budget.
The extra funds are needed for the new ag building, Brenning and Hare said Sunday, not only for rising expenses and upkeep of the building, but to pay off the loan for the building.
The current USDA loan for the building is payable through 2042, with $211,000 left to pay, Hare said. She and Brenning also cited that the building payments and utilities for the year took a large share of its budget. With a $43,934 yearly budget, $33,125 of that is spent on utilities ($11,500), insurance ($7,600) and building payment ($13,400).
The resolution, as presented to the voters, reads that it will allow the The Hitchcock County Fair Board, also known as the Hitchcock County Agricultural Society, to increase its budgeted restricted funds authority not to exceed .012638 cents per $100 of taxable valuation in excess of the limited prescribed by law and to increase the restricted funds base by $22,000.00 or 74.34 percent over the allowable growth percentage for the general operations and building payments.
Hare said they would not levy the entire .012638 cents as stated in the resolution but .008 cents, as "We are taxpayers too and don't want to spend anymore money than we have to."
Other topics directed at candidates at Sunday's meeting included the Hitchcock County School board leasing land for a new track and the most equitable way county assessors tax property, especially property that has been designated for conservation programs.