[Gunluvver2]

Someone should tell 80 year old Thelma who lives on a fixed income and owns her home about the HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION. Unless it has been repealed Thelma should qualify for it and be EXEMPT from property tax on her home.

If the Homestead Exemption is no longer the law, in Nebraska, please let me know.

GL2

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by Gunluvver2

Someone should tell 80 year old Thelma who lives on a fixed income and owns her home about the HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION. Unless it has been repealed Thelma should qualify for it and be EXEMPT from property tax on her home.

If the Homestead Exemption is no longer the law, in Nebraska, please let me know.

GL2

The Homestead Exemption in Nebraska is not only complicated, but has been "adjusted" in such a way that many people in need don't qualify.

The value of the home has to be very low. The income and total assets of the individual applying have to be very low.

[laserdisque]

It looks like there is really not much to be done. Every other way of making up the money such as the two percent entertainment tax, the 1 percent entertainment tax, and the ohhh so silly dish fee has been met with outrage. Seeing as how the city charter is written, tax hikes are the last option. I have never been to the Qwest center but will gladly pay a little extra tax for it.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by laserdisque

It looks like there is really not much to be done. Every other way of making up the money such as the two percent entertainment tax, the 1 percent entertainment tax, and the ohhh so silly dish fee has been met with outrage. Seeing as how the city charter is written, tax hikes are the last option. I have never been to the Qwest center but will gladly pay a little extra tax for it.

So there you have it.

The people who actually benefit from the QWest Center get all pissy about actually paying for it, and get their way. And those who did NOT approve of paying for it through Property Taxes end up paying for it anyway.


Talk about screwed up...

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Omaha Rocks

That's actually not true.

The sale of QWest Center BONDS was approved by voters in 2000. It was NOT going to be paid for by Property Taxes. Voters were told that the building of the QWest Center would NOT increase property taxes.

Everything about the funding of the QWest Center is crap - outright fraud and lies. THIS is a perfect example of the outright lies public officials slip by taxpayers. This is a PERFECT example of why Fahey had to slip the approval of the new ballpark through without it going to a public vote. He KNEW that the people of Omaha are sick of this crap.

And THIS is a PERFECT example of why there was a serious push to have Fahey recalled and thrown out of office. Had Fahey still been in office when these new tax increases were proposed, there is no doubt he would be in the process of being thrown out of office right now.



The whole point is that Omaha taxpayers were told that Property Taxes would NOT be used to fund the QWest Center. Then, after its building was completed, the Administration simply changed its mind. In addition, the QWest Center COULD pay its own way! So why are we, the taxpayers, being pegged to foot the bill?

Should Property Taxes Cover Qwest Debt?

Yeah, there was alot of smoke and mirrors around that project, both from Daub (who I like) to Fahey (who I don't like) but at the end, it don't matter much to me. The Qwest is a kick ass arena and I'd happily pay a little more in taxes for it.

Still, I'd like to know what further cuts you think the city government should make. I actually looked through the budget and couldn't find much of anything to cut.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

Yeah, there was alot of smoke and mirrors around that project, both from Daub (who I like) to Fahey (who I don't like) but at the end, it don't matter much to me. The Qwest is a kick ass arena and I'd happily pay a little more in taxes for it.

Still, I'd like to know what further cuts you think the city government should make. I actually looked through the budget and couldn't find much of anything to cut.

Would you be willing to pay for the QWest Center with an extra $2 per ticket User Fee added to every ticket for every event there?


Regarding the Smoke & Mirrors, you're absolutely right! And guess what? Fahey pulled the same stunt with the new Downtown Ballpark they're building. Bottom line: Who is going to pay for the new ballpark? We BOTH know.

Don't get me wrong. I do think it's great to have both those venues in Omaha. But it DISGUSTS me that the people of Omaha have been repeatedly lied to, and are now being forced to pay for something that is both unnecessary AND could pay its own way! Shoot, The QWest Center has a LOT of money! Why do they need taxpayer money to cover what they could just go ahead and pay?

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Omaha Rocks

Would you be willing to pay for the QWest Center with an extra $2 per ticket User Fee added to every ticket for every event there?

Absolutely.

Regarding the Smoke & Mirrors, you're absolutely right! And guess what? Fahey pulled the same stunt with the new Downtown Ballpark they're building. Bottom line: Who is going to pay for the new ballpark? We BOTH know.

Actually as I understand it the contract is written in a way that would stick the NCAA with the bill.

But anyways, getting away from Qwest and TDA, what else do you want the city government to cut? That's what I really want to know.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

Absolutely.

Actually as I understand it the contract is written in a way that would stick the NCAA with the bill.

But anyways, getting away from Qwest and TDA, what else do you want the city government to cut? That's what I really want to know.

Why do we need so many? The things I've already mentioned would make a HUGE dent in the problem. For instance, the QWest Center has an $11 million payment coming up in 2012. Why should the city of Omaha pay that? Let them pay it themselves! They already have almost that much money in reserve - and they could spend the next 3 years getting that $11 million payment ready.


In Addition:

- How many million dollars per year could Omaha save simply by freezing (and I do mean freezing) all public employee pay raises?

- How many million dollars per year could Omaha save if they simply bit the bullet and pulled the plug on these asinine police & fireman retirement packages? $90,000 per year, for life, for somebody that retires before he's 50-years old is absurd, and it is putting a HUGE dent in the budget. If said retired police officer lives to be 80, the City of Omaha will have paid him $3 million dollars AFTER he retired. And that's just 1 person. That is absolutely unconscionable!

- Why does every 911 Call, for a sickness, result in a giant fire truck - with 4 people aboard - at least one squad car, and a rescue vehicle being dispatched? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars per year does this waste?



Now... All you've been doing is asking questions. Since you admit that you're not an Omaha Property Tax Payer, I think it's fair for you to find better ways to take care of the budget mess than simply throw more burden on property owners. What have you got?

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Omaha Rocks

In Addition:

- How many million dollars per year could Omaha save simply by freezing (and I do mean freezing) all public employee pay raises?

That's already been done, and been done for a few years now. Omaha Police is working off a 2006 pay scale. It's about time those guys get the pay raises they deserve, don't you think?

- How many million dollars per year could Omaha save if they simply bit the bullet and pulled the plug on these asinine police & fireman retirement packages? $90,000 per year, for life, for somebody that retires before he's 50-years old is absurd, and it is putting a HUGE dent in the budget. If said retired police officer lives to be 80, the City of Omaha will have paid him $3 million dollars AFTER he retired. And that's just 1 person. That is absolutely unconscionable!

It would be impossible to kill the pensions. It's a collectively bargained for benefit that every police department in the nation gets.

Also, pension payments are paid out of the pension fund (not the general city fund) which is mostly funded with union dues and some contribution by the city. I've read (but have not verified) that when an OPD officer retires it actually SAVES the city money since the pension contribution is much less than the salary that OPD must pay themselves.

Also keep in mind that there was NEVER any problem with the pensions until Fahey refused to give OPD their raises and instead threw the spiking issue out there. Unfortunately that will end up hitting the tax payers, but luckily the police and fire unions are stepping up to take on half of the burden.

- Why does every 911 Call, for a sickness, result in a giant fire truck - with 4 people aboard - at least one squad car, and a rescue vehicle being dispatched? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars per year does this waste?

Fire trucks usually respond to every call. They simply carry more equipment then an ambulance can. Police cars usually respond to provide safety to the rescue crews and take reports if needed.

I don't think much money is being wasted there. Those people are already on the clock being paid so at worst your costs are the fuel getting to and from the calls, which probably isn't a whole lot even when you add it all up.

Now... All you've been doing is asking questions.

Well yeah. I'm asking about your views on the budget.

Since you admit that you're not an Omaha Property Tax Payer, I think it's fair for you to find better ways to take care of the budget mess than simply throw more burden on property owners.

Well let's not forget that I'm a former Omaha resident and am planning to move back, so even though I'm not being hit by the tax increases now I will have to deal with them shortly, so I do have a vested interest in the outcome of this situation. I'm not just some commentator from the outside who is not effected by these things.

What have you got?

A whole lot of nothing, which was basically my point to begin with. I dug through the budget a bit and didn't really find any significant cuts to be made. Even Chuck Sigerson, the staunchest of the anti-tax council members, admitted that they had made all the cuts that could be made and a tax increase was inevitable.

Also remember that the tax rate in the city had been dropping since what....1999 or something like that? Taxes in this city have been much higher and everyone survived just fine, yet this tax increase isn't even close to getting us back to that level and people are acting like the apocalypse is coming.

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

Also remember that the tax rate in the city had been dropping since what....1999 or something like that? Taxes in this city have been much higher and everyone survived just fine, yet this tax increase isn't even close to getting us back to that level and people are acting like the apocalypse is coming.

Actually, Property Taxes have not been falling. The Property Tax RATE has dropped minimally.

But at the same time, they've come through and aggressively reassessed virtually every home in Omaha. For instance, the house I'm now living in saw a $50,000+ increase in assessed value, from 2004-2005.

So what happens now that they're talking about raising the Property Tax RATE? Actual Property Taxes are going to go up EXPONENTIALLY, because they're being applied to homes that have now been reassessed at much higher values. 2010 Property Taxes, for many people, will be more than double what they were in 2004. And we think this is by accident?


Keep an eye on things. If the citizens of Omaha actually figure out what's going on behind closed doors, it's going to get REALLY ugly before this is over.