Committee hears pleas from small cities; bill amended to add Oberon, Trotsky and Oden and laid over

Senate File 2944, a bill to authorize distributions of local government aid (LGA) and to forgive certain penalties for small cities that missed reporting deadlines, received testimony on April 1 and was laid over by the Senate Taxes Committee after amendments adding allocations for several small cities.

Senator Weber offered an amendment (A3) to add funding for small cities whose reporting failures caused late or missed LGA distributions. The amendment adds amounts for the city of Alpha ($18,004.72), the city of Trotsky ($16,271), and the city of Oden ($30,957); the committee adopted the amendment by voice vote and then heard testimony from local officials.

Timothy Kane, mayor of Alpha, said the prior city clerk had fallen behind on required filings, leading to penalties and delayed audits; the clerk left the position and the city has since hired Kelly Soucek, who testified she began in September and has worked to reorganize records and get the city current. "Of course, this $18,000 local government aid payment would help to cover the fees that the previous clerk caused and, being just a small community, every dollar kind of counts here," Soucek said.

Senator Weber said the committee was sympathetic to small-city capacity challenges but emphasized accountability and the need for proper reporting going forward. The bill was laid over for further consideration; senators said the State Auditor must certify that proper reporting has been accomplished before cities would receive funds under the proposal.