Farmers, schools at odds over Ricketts' property tax plan

(AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts' property tax plan drew praise Tuesday from Nebraska's farming community and opposition from school officials, who would face new restrictions on their budget authority.

Ricketts said his proposal would slow the statewide growth of property taxes — a top concern of farmers and ranchers — and trigger an increase in state aid for K-12 public schools.

Farmers and ranchers have seen their property taxes soar because of increased farm and ranchland values even as farm incomes declined.

The schools bill presented Tuesday would require districts to seek voter approval before issuing bonds on capital projects and would impose new limits designed to slow the growth of their budgets.

A second bill presented last week to the Revenue Committee would prevent the combined taxable value of all the state's agricultural land from growing by more than 3 percent annually and place limits on cities, counties and other local governments.