News Release
For Immediate Release 9-12, 2014
Contact: John Winkler, General Manager
Office Phone 444-6222
Cell Phone 402-616-2457  

NRD Adopts Budget with Same or Lowered Property Tax Levy for Ninth Consecutive Year

At its September 11 th meeting in Dakota City, NE, the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District Board of Directors voted to adopt a fiscal year 2015 general operating budget that once again calls for no tax levy increase. This will be the ninth consecutive year that the NRD has held steady or reduced its property tax levy.

“It’s getting harder each year to hold the tax levy in place,” said NRD General Manager, John Winkler.

“We have a number of vital projects that need to be built for flood control throughout our six-county region while we simultaneously carry out activities to protect the water quality of our lakes and streams, construct extremely popular recreational trails, and provide cost sharing to rural landowners to build soil and water conservation projects and wildlife enhancement. Quite simply our flood control infrastructure is not keeping up with human development.   We are at the point in time where the majority of our flood control system was constructed over 30-50 years ago and the hydrologic conditions that existed then are not even close to what they are today,” he said.

The proposed budget calls for a FY 2015 property tax levy of .032753. This levy, identical to the previous year’s levy, would mean that the owner of property valued at $100,000 would pay a total of $32.75 in property taxes next year to support NRD projects and other resources management activities. The levy is based on an estimated 2.6 percent increase in valuations across the district. The Papio-Missouri River NRD area includes all of Sarpy, Douglas, Washington and Dakota Counties plus the eastern 60% of Burt and Thurston Counties.

The budget calls for an estimated $18 million in revenue from the NRD’s property tax levy. Total spending is estimated at $83.4 million. Approximately 25 percent of the total NRD budget comes from federal and state cost sharing for specific projects. Other revenue includes bonds and income from Improvement Project Areas. “One of the NRD’s strengths is our ability to leverage federal and state cost sharing on projects such as the Western Sarpy/Clear Creek Levee on the Platte River and improvements to Missouri River levees south of Bellevue,” said Winkler. “These federal and state cost sharing efforts save local taxpayers millions of dollars,” he said.