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City council places Good Life District authorization on May 12 primary ballot
Summary
The Kearney City Council voted unanimously to submit Resolution No. 2026-18 asking voters to authorize the city to adopt a Good Life District economic development program that would rebate 0.5 percentage points of state sales tax for reinvestment in a roughly 200-acre district; the program runs 30 years and does not use property tax dollars.
The Kearney City Council voted to place a ballot question on the May 12, 2026 primary asking voters to permit the city to adopt a Good Life District economic development program that would allow the city to appropriate rebated state sales tax receipts for projects inside the district.
City Manager Brenda Jensen told the council the Good Life District is a state program designed to "incentivize or try and ... jump start transformational projects," and stressed "the most important point, right, is we're not increasing taxes. There's no new taxes." Jensen said the city’s approved district covers about 200 acres on the north side of the interstate and west of 2nd Avenue and includes existing and in-progress development such as the Sportsplex, Drop Zone and Texas T-Bone.
Jensen explained the program’s statutory benchmarks: applicants must demonstrate significant private investment and ongoing out-of-state visitor spending. She said the city must show more than $100 million in new investment within 10 years and that at least 20% of sales in the district be from out-of-state visitors; the city would use data sources such as Buxton or Placer and hotel receipts or Department of Revenue records to verify out-of-state sales. "We were approved in July 2025, and that started the 30 year clock," Jensen said, noting the program would run until July 2055.
Jensen also addressed what would happen if voters rejected authorization: the city, as the applicant, would still receive rebated funds but would have narrower spending authority limited primarily to infrastructure items such as streets, water and sewer. She said the program is commonly structured so developers front capital and are refunded from rebated revenue, and that without voter authorization the city could not offer refunds in the same way.
A councilmember moved to close the public hearing and adopt Resolution No. 2026-18; the motion was seconded and carried on roll call. The resolution will appear on the May 12, 2026 primary ballot for voter approval.
