LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen’s pressure campaign in 26 communities in May and June didn’t lead to an influx of calls or emails to Nebraska lawmakers, as he might have hoped.

Between May 3 and June 28, Pillen hosted events from Scottsbluff and Chadron in the west to Auburn and South Sioux City in the east. Each event was held in a different county, with Pillen holding town halls in counties that are home to a total of 38% of the state’s population, based on the 1.96 million residents in the 2020 census.

The 26 counties accounted for about 36% of total property values statewide and 36% of all $5.3 billion in property taxes collected last year.

At a more granular level, Pillen directly visited communities where almost 407,000 people live, according to population estimates from the Nebraska Department of Revenue for 2023 municipalities. Omaha had almost 492,000 residents in 2023.

‘With business leaders in Omaha and Lincoln nonstop’

Lancaster and Douglas Counties, which include Lincoln and Omaha respectively, accounted for about 46% of the state’s population based on the latest census report. They accounted for 33.4% of all property valuations and 40.5% of the total property taxes in 2023.

Pillen indicated this week he might have purposefully left those cities off his tour schedule. 

“I think I spend 65 [percent] to 70 percent of my time in Lincoln and Omaha,” Pillen told reporters at a Wednesday event. “I’m with business leaders in Omaha and Lincoln nonstop.”

Pillen would need support from at least 33 of the state’s 49 lawmakers for his property tax reform goals, requiring at least some lawmakers from Lincoln or Omaha.

Of his town halls, 20 were held in Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District and six in the 1st Congressional District. No town halls were hosted in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Saunders and Douglas Counties plus the western part of Sarpy County.

Ten senators represent parts of Lancaster County, in the 1st District, and 16 represent parts of Douglas County. The legislative districts for seven lawmakers in Lancaster and 14 lawmakers in Douglas are totally within the counties.

Should Pillen expand his tour list to Lincoln and Omaha, he would have toured counties where about 84% of the state’s residents live ahead of an expected special session. The total property valuations for the 28 counties is 69.4%, and the total amount of property taxes is 76.5%.

‘It just doesn’t make any sense’

At many of his town halls, Pillen urged those in attendance to call or email as many lawmakers as they could so their voices could “drown out the lobbying groups.” If they didn’t, in a more expletive-ridden speech, he said they shouldn’t complain next year.

But those calls and emails didn’t come, according to multiple senators who had town halls in their legislative districts.

Multiple lawmakers, including Omaha State Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell McKinney, told the Nebraska Examiner they have concerns about no town halls being held in Lincoln or Omaha.

“Property taxes aren’t just high in western Nebraska,” McKinney said. “The people in Omaha and Lincoln are dealing with it, too, and just to not engage with those populations, it just doesn’t make any sense.”

Wayne said Pillen’s lack of engagement makes it seem as though Wayne’s constituents don’t matter.

State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln said that property taxes remain a top issue for his voters and that he’s connecting with as many constituents as he can.

Ballard said his district, which includes Davey, Malcolm, Raymond, Waverly and northwest Lincoln, would likely welcome “any opportunity for getting more community involvement, because this has the potential to be one of the biggest policy discussions in generations.”

Concern for renters

State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, who missed much of the spring regular legislative session as she battled a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said it is “really disturbing” to think Pillen won’t host or doesn’t feel comfortable hosting town halls “where he will get honest feedback.”

A former Lincoln City Council member and Lancaster County commissioner, Raybould said property tax increases over time don’t tell the whole story, such as when the state was “slowly choking off” state aid to public education, municipalities and counties.

“That’s a message I don’t think [Pillen] is conveying to people who are hardworking Nebraskans who watch every penny that they make, and when they see these valuations jump up, they think that somebody is making out like a bandit on spending their money,” Raybould said.

State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, who has been working with Pillen and a group of 16 other lawmakers on property tax reforms this summer, said he has concerns for his district and other urban areas where more people live in apartments. 

Riepe said renters might not get a direct tax advantage from any plans and asked how much power a renter might have to say to a landlord, “I know you got some relief. Do I get some?”

“They say, ‘Well, the landlord will lower their rent,’” Riepe said. “That remains to be seen.”

Ag senators continue to voice opposition

A similar caution on how tax changes will affect renters has been made from some farmers serving in the Legislature. They are concerned that a Pillen suggestion to add sales taxes to certain agricultural inputs — the raw materials used in ag production — would raise overall taxes without providing other spending cuts.

Among those opponents is State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams, who said he’s visited with many people since Pillen hosted a town hall in his district, in Beatrice. He said he has gotten some feedback that people want action but doesn’t know if that’s because of the town hall.

Added State Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara: “Taxing the inputs is going to be the death of some or maybe a lot of young farmers, especially the ones that don’t have land.”

State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar said Pillen’s suggestion on taxing ag inputs is “universally opposed” after she got a few dozen emails from farmers.

Slama said two people contacted her after the town halls in Auburn and Nebraska City in support of Pillen. One of them walked back the support after finding out the “plan” would raise taxes and not cut spending, she said.

“Moreover, four people reached out after the town hall to oppose different parts of Pillen’s tax increase and tactics he used at the event,” Slama said.

Those tactics included what Slama described as “potshots” directed at her, where Pillen suggested that the southeast Nebraska senator — the chair of the Legislature’s Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee — needed to “understand balancing a checkbook and what it takes.”

Slama said she’s also heard concerns that if the state took over K-12 funding, it would immediately lead to further rural school district consolidations, “crippling our communities.”

Most senators reported ‘hardly any’ feedback

State Sens. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island, Joni Albrecht of Thurston, Carol Blood of Bellevue, Rob Clements of Elmwood, Steve Erdman of Bayard, Teresa Ibach of Sumner and Lynne Walz of Fremont all said they had “hardly any” or no feedback from the town halls in their districts.

“Nobody has told us to support Pillen’s special session,” Blood said in a text.

Over time, such as from Pillen’s earliest town halls in Bellevue and Grand Island to his latest in McCook and Lexington, the governor has drastically shifted his proposals toward property taxes, not sharing more concrete ideas until about halfway through.

State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward said her feedback has been “all over the board,” ranging from one constituent worried about losing local control if K-12 funding shifts to the state to another worried about the fairness in how tax rates and valuations are currently set.

Erdman said people are fired up, but not because of Pillen’s town halls.

“They stop by my house,” Erdman said. “All of our taxes are too high.”

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the Legislature’s Revenue Committee chair, has not had a town hall in her district but said she has been to town halls in more populated areas. She said that they generally became more like campaign rallies and that advocates of different viewpoints tried to get as many people as they could to attend.

“I’m all for town hall meetings, don’t get me wrong, but they won’t be like the ones in small towns,” Linehan said, cautioning that a different format might be necessary.

‘No longer a rural-urban issue’

DeKay and State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte, who said he got limited feedback after Pillen’s visit there, said their constituents are looking for an answer that will help the entire state.

“I think at this stage of the game, this is no longer a rural-urban issue,” Jacobson said.

Jacobson, who is also part of the governor’s task force, said some people have tried to argue that people in Lincoln or Omaha would pay more under tax changes being discussed, but he said that’s not true.

DeKay said lawmakers need to work with their “compadres across the aisle” but also with one another. In his view, everyone should pay a little, instead of a few paying a lot.

“It doesn’t matter what party you’re affiliated with, property tax is going to be playing a part of everybody’s life,” DeKay said. “We’ve got to try to figure out what’s going to work for everybody.”