Council approves application to seek state 'turnback' sales tax for proposed North Lincoln volleyball complex

The Lincoln City Council voted 7-0 to approve a resolution allowing the city to submit a joint application with N4VB (Nebraska for Volleyball) to the state under the Sports Arena Facility Financing Assistance Act and to call for an election if the application receives conditional approval.

Dan Marvin, director of urban development, told the council the application requests turnback sales tax to support a proposed sports complex in North Lincoln that would include eight volleyball courts. Marvin said the developers expect to seek a $14,000,000 bond issue and to raise private funds to cover remaining costs. He emphasized the city would act as a conduit for municipal debt rather than an obligor of the bonds: “The debt that gets issued from this, it will not be an obligation of city taxpayers,” Marvin said.

Maggie Griffin, executive director of N4VB, told the council the facility is designed to serve youth of all backgrounds year round, support free and reduced-cost programming in partnership with Lincoln schools and community organizations, and draw visiting teams that would benefit local hotels and restaurants. “No Lincoln athlete should be sidelined because our community is out of court space or because it costs too much to play the game,” Griffin said.

Council members expressed support for economic investment in North Lincoln and said voters would ultimately decide on any bond issuance. The resolution authorizes the application process and, if the state conditionally approves it, allows a future election and bond issuance process to proceed.