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City administrator updates council on airport taxiway project, playground grants and four state bills
Summary
City staff reported an airport taxiway project kickoff, procurement steps for playground RCRP grants and summarized four state bills that could affect city revenue or costs, including a sales-tax-on-electric proposal that advanced out of committee.
City Administrator Tobias briefed the council on administrative items and state legislation during the Feb. 17 meeting, reporting an airport taxiway project kickoff, procurement work for playground grants and four bills at the Nebraska Legislature that the city is monitoring.
Tobias said the Airport Taxiway Project had a kickoff meeting and construction is scheduled to start March 24; federal grants will fund the work and designs include changes to taxiway geometry to reduce safety risks. On playgrounds, Tobias said the city’s RCRP grant procurement and required covenants are being prepared so the city can begin purchasing equipment for multiple sites.
Tobias summarized four legislative proposals the city is tracking: LB117 (eliminate sales tax on residential electric sales), LB197 (increase police officer retirement contributions from 7% to 9%), LB357 (eliminate municipal equalization funds that the city receives, about $1 million annually) and LB526 (a proposed tax on large data-center electricity use). He said LB117—the sales-tax-on-electric proposal—was the only bill of the four that had advanced out of committee at the time of the meeting. Tobias noted potential fiscal impacts: the sales-tax elimination could cost the city about $250,000 annually, raising concern because those sales-tax revenues support general fund services such as police and fire; LB197 would raise employer retirement costs; LB357 would remove about $1 million the city currently gets from state equalization funding; and LB526, as introduced by the governor, would impose about a 2.5-cent-per-kilowatt-hour tax on data miners and could affect the competitiveness of data-intensive users in the industrial park.
Tobias said the city is in contact with the League of Nebraska Municipalities and state senators and will bring matters back to council if local positions or formal action are needed.
No formal council action was taken; the items were reported for information and monitoring.
