Gage County officials say growth was lower than expected; budget cuts likely
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Summary
Board members said taxable growth came in below expectations, triggering earlier cuts of roughly $1.3 million and indicating further reductions may be needed; officials noted Tax Increment Financing (TIF) projects are not being counted as growth this year.
Gage County officials told the Board of Equalization on Aug. 20 that taxable growth was slightly below expectations for the last year, and that the county has already cut about $1.3 million from initial budget requests and likely will need to cut more.
“Growth was slightly less than anticipated this last year,” the presiding official said during the meeting, noting that initial requests from county offices had assumed roughly an 18% increase in the tax request. “We needed to cut initially about 1,300,000.0. We got to that point. Going through growth numbers, we're gonna be cutting more.”
Officials also discussed how Tax Increment Financing (TIF) projects are being treated in the growth calculation. The presiding official said TIF projects are not counted as growth while the TIF is active, and that growth from a project is considered only in the year the TIF is paid off. The official listed recent local developments — a sandwich shop and apartment buildings — as examples of projects that will not show as growth until their TIF obligations are concluded.
Board members described the fiscal picture as challenging but manageable and said they will continue conversations about cuts and priorities. No formal motions or votes were taken on the budget during the equalization session; the remarks were recorded as discussion only.