Property tax hearing coming up for Hastings area residents

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - Three local governments in the Hastings area have scheduled a joint public hearing for Tuesday, Sept. 19 to give taxpayers a chance to weigh in on property taxes.

A City of Hastings spokesperson said state law requires public hearings for local governments which raise their property tax request beyond a certain amount. The law also allows local governments to hold these hearings jointly.

That’s why patrons of the Hastings and Silver Lake school districts as well as Hastings residents are asked to attend the public hearing scheduled for Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Hastings High School Auditorium at 1100 West 14th street.

For the upcoming budget year, the local government property tax requests are:

• Hastings Public Schools $17,940,932
• City of Hastings: $8,125,766
• Silver Lake Public Schools: $4,631,143

Whether a political subdivision needs to participate in the joint public hearing is determined by whether the entity’s tax request is above the allowable growth percentage. Allowable growth percentage is a 2% increase, plus a permitted real growth percentage increase. The state law governing these hearings defines real growth percentage as “the percentage obtained by dividing the political subdivision’s real growth value by the political subdivision’s total real property valuation from the prior year.”

This would be the second property tax public hearing called for these three local governments. The first was scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 14, at 7:00 p.m. at the Hastings High School Auditorium. An Adams County spokesperson said the postcard notifications for that meeting were delivered too late to give local taxpayers adequate notice. And so the second meeting Sept. 19 has been scheduled to give local taxpayers a better chance to plan to attend.

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