Speaker: Taxes are price for local control

The increased tax rate the Middle Republican Natural Resources District included in its 2007-08 budget is the price we pay for local control, said one McCook resident who spoke at the open budget hearing Tuesday night.

All three who addressed the board at the hearing at Memorial Auditorium in McCook were in favor of the higher tax rate, including Mike Thomas of McCook.

Thomas, who farms in Frontier county, conceded that the $3 million increase in the 2007-08 budget seemed high but that in the long run it could be beneficial.

"If we want to control our destiny we need to pay for it," he said, as the alternative - the state stepping in and mandating changes - could be worse.

"I'm in favor or keeping government as local as possible," he contended.

Scott Moore, son of MRNRD board member Stan Moore, also spoke in favor of the higher tax rate.

"It's a state problem but its our problem to fix it," he said, noting that irrigators would pay the larger portion of the taxes. "It may not be the right way but it may be the only way."

A farmer from the south part of North Platte, Randy Robinson, also weighed in and justified the tax rate as the only viable approach to sustain the economy.

"This is a small price to pay if we lose our irrigators," he said. If for some reason irrigators aren't allowed to use the water, the economic impact would be devastating, he said. Land values would decrease and the tax base would shrink, resulting in higher taxes for everyone else, he said.

"The taxes are very reasonable and in the best interest," Robinson concluded.

But others disagreed at the public forum segment of the regular MRNRD meeting that followed the public hearing.

Barry Richardson of Hayes Center said groundwater irrigators were responsible for the shortage of water and it was unfair that property owners had to pay for a bond to address water compliance issues.

"Irrigators need to make a living but so do the rest of us," he said, and questioned the logic of using property taxes for the bond.

"If a bonding company is too scared to float a bond without property taxes, that sound pretty goofy to begin with," he speculated. He accused the board of playing "hide and seek" concerning the bond and that it would be better at this point to just let the courts decide how to settle it.

Roger Goltl asked the board how far out of compliance Nebraska was with water used from the Republican River and said he spoke personally to Kansas irrigators that were pumping up to 24 inches.

He also took issue with city property owners who objected to the higher tax levy. The average farmer will pay more in sales tax than the average city homeowner will pay with the increased levy, he said.

City Manager Kurt Fritsch clarified that large farming implements purchased in the city and delivered outside city limits do not include sales tax.

He asked that the tax issue not pit one group against another.

Goltl's comments also drew a response from Mark Billinger, a environmental scientist with the Kansas Department of Agriculture who attended the meeting.

He stated that "Kansas is not after all your water - we just want our fair share."

He also noted, in response to the alleged 24 inches of water, that the bottom line is that Kansas is still within its allocation.