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Committee approves 2025–26 fee schedule, pay plan and CIP; votes to set property‑tax hearing under 'pink postcard' option
Summary
Finance Director Heather Lindsley presented the 2025–26 budget; the committee approved the fee schedule, a pay plan with a 2% COLA, and the capital improvement plan, and voted to set a joint property‑tax hearing using the 'pink postcard' (LB 644) option, which reduces allowable immediate growth but requires taxpayer notice.
The Committee of the Whole approved a set of budget items for fiscal 2025–26 after a public hearing in which Finance Director Heather Lindsley reviewed revenue assumptions, fee changes and new positions.
Lindsley said the city projects sales‑tax receipts and other revenues of roughly $10.4 million and budgeted conservatively at about $10.0 million for the coming year to cover operations. She explained that Nebraska rebate programs such as the Nebraska Advantage Act have produced refunds (about $242,000 to date) that can reduce local receipts and make forecasting less certain.
On personnel, the committee approved a pay plan that includes a 2% across‑the‑board cost‑of‑living adjustment and newly proposed positions added to the personnel worksheet. One new position discussed is a Director of General Services; public comment raised concerns about that role’s cost and whether it replaces lower‑paid operational positions.
During public comment resident Linda Clater identified herself and said she was concerned the budget was tight while the city planned a new administrative position she said could reach a potential $177,000 annual salary. "That may not be the starting, but that is the potential and that's…a lot for an admin position when there are positions that have been eliminated that are active positions of lower pay," she told the committee.
Councilors recommended approval of the capital improvement plan, which Lindsley said is supported by a mix of sales tax, enterprise funds and highway allocation money. The committee approved the CIP on a voice vote.
On property tax policy, Lindsley reviewed two options under recent state changes: LB 34, which lets municipalities grow by 'real growth' plus state‑set inflation (the county assessor set Columbus City's real growth at 1.91% and the state inflation figure used was 5.17%), and the 'pink postcard' route created by LB 644 that limits growth to a lower threshold (3.91%) but requires taxpayer notification. Lindsley advised the council that the city must notify the county by the next morning and that opting out of the pink‑postcard option would forgo roughly $223,805 in revenue that could not later be recovered.
After discussion the committee voted to accept the 'pink postcard' option and set a joint public hearing with the county for Sept. 18, 2025, with a property‑tax ask of $7,562,660.83 (the alternative local‑only hearing option would have asked $7,338,855.48). The clerk read several members’ affirmative votes during the roll call portion of the record.
Other formal steps at the hearing included approval of the fee schedule and a motion to close the budget hearing. The committee adjourned following the close of the hearing.
