Omaha Stothert’s 2024 Budget

Mayor Too Timid

Omaha Mayor Stothert has been mayor now for just over ten years. Her strength is in keeping public safety well-funded and operational. She also has kept problems from spiraling out of control by addressing the George Floyd riots, slummy landlords, and West Omaha roads. However, over the years, a distinct pattern has developed. She continues to grow the size and footprint of the municipal government. Her 2024 budget (https://finance.cityofomaha.org/) expands government by over 6 percent (https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-jean-stothert-2024-budget-pay-raise-police-officers-property-tax-rate-cut/44640616).

The City relies too heavily on property taxes. With the building of more apartments, there are more people in need of much less space and only paying property taxes indirectly. More people in need of services, and fewer property owners to pay taxes for such services. The imbalance is inevitable. The City needs to shift to other taxes, but the Mayor and City Council do not understand this, and therefore fail to act.

To add to the problem, Stothert's efforts to reduce the City property tax levy are merely cosmetic. The change in the levy is far too minuscule to make any noticeable difference when inflation is factored in. In fact, this levy reduction is more of a publicity stunt than anything else. The image below presented in the budget is laughable if people only really understood how it shows no reflection of inflation over the years, yet few notice.

Another problem are the bonds, tax bonds, or what should be called infinity tax bonds as they never end. The City has a list of authorizations for bonds, which act like a retirement account, except the government never retires, so it just keeps on raiding the account. As soon as many of the bonds are paid off, more are authorized. This is like taking a mortgage on a house, and paying down the mortgage, just so you can take out another mortgage. The Mayor has not put any discipline on this practice. Much of the City revenue is run off of bonds (click on image below).

But the most infuriating part is the amount of money the City is giving to large landowning organizations who are exempt from the property tax. This includes Henry Doorly Zoo, UNMC, Lauritzen Gardens, and the Nebraska Humane Society. The City is giving millions to such organizations without purchasing or receiving a direct service, but even then, these organizations are already subsidized by being exempt from the property tax and other taxes! Why are taxpayers, most specifically property taxpayers, giving them money?

Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom (https://www.netaxpayers.org/) has been complaining about this type of taxation from local taxing authorities for years. You can read more at their blog (http://netaxpayers.blogspot.com/). This is why more and more people are supporting the EPIC consumption tax (https://epicoption.org/). The time for change has come.