First-round approval granted to eliminate city, county and NRD aid

A bill to eliminate state aid to municipalities, counties and natural resources districts advanced from general file Feb. 9.

LB383, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Abbie Cornett at the request of the governor, would remove the aid programs from state law.

Cornett said the bill is needed to help balance the state’s budget.

Lawmakers discussed an amendment offered by Ellsworth Sen. LeRoy Louden to reinstate the aid programs in fiscal year 2013-14. If economic conditions improve, Louden said, his amendment would permit the Legislature to easily restart the programs.

Cornett spoke against Louden’s amendment, saying it would give local governments false hope that the state would resume aid programs when it may not have the funds to do so.

Omaha Sen. Health Mello spoke in favor of Louden’s amendment and against LB383. The bill would balance the state budget by diverting funds from the state aid programs, Mello said, which provide property tax relief.

“You can’t take the easy way out of pushing our problems at the state level to other levels of government,” he said.

Louden’s amendment was defeated 9-35.

Omaha Sen. Brenda Council brought an amendment that would have retained city and county aid programs but made the funding optional.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist spoke in opposition to Council’s amendment, saying he prefers the original bill because it would force local governments to look at their budgets for cuts.

Council said it would maintain the structure of aid programs to compensate local governments for cuts to their revenue authorized by the Legislature. It is irresponsible to prohibit a city from collecting certain occupation taxes and wheel taxes while simultaneously eliminating state aid, she said.

Council’s amendment was defeated 10-36, and LB383 advanced from general file 37-8.