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Nebraska ends fiscal year with record $6.35 billion revenues

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Nebraska ends fiscal year with record .35 billion revenues


LINCOLN — Nebraska closed out its fiscal yr on a report excessive be aware, with internet tax revenues nearing $6.35 billion, based on a brand new state report.

The Nebraska Division of Income report, launched Friday, reveals the state collected $624 million extra for the fiscal yr that ended June 30 than predicted simply 4 months earlier. The entire is up 10.9% from these February projections, which in flip have been $370 million greater than projections issued in October.

The brand new income figures had some policymakers speaking about tax cuts whereas others stated the cash needs to be used as a hedge in opposition to an financial downturn.  

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the Income Committee chairwoman, stated the elevated revenues imply lawmakers ought to do extra to scale back taxes subsequent yr, maybe by chopping earnings tax charges extra or quicker or each.

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Linehan

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“I’d counsel we return and take a look at extra tax cuts,” she stated.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, whose time period in workplace ends in early January, hailed the income figures as a mirrored image of Nebraskans’ laborious work over the previous yr. He additionally referred to as for extra motion to scale back taxes.

“It units the subsequent Legislature up with a first-rate alternative to construct on the historic tax reduction we delivered to Nebraskans in 2022,” he stated.

Earlier this yr, lawmakers handed a serious tax reduction bundle that’s projected to be price practically $900 million when totally applied in 2027.



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Pete Ricketts end of year revenue 2022

Ricketts


Legislative Invoice 873 lowered the highest earnings tax charges on companies and people, ended earnings taxes on Social Safety advantages and boosted property tax reduction. The invoice will probably be phased in over 5 years, that means its impression on tax revenues will develop with time. 

However Sen. John Stinner of Gering, the outgoing Appropriations Committee chairman, stated the elevated tax collections will bolster the state’s money reserve fund and depart Nebraska in a greater place to climate financial uncertainties. He pointed to rising rates of interest and rising speak about recession as worrisome indicators.

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“That is why I used to be adamant about leaving the reserve in a reasonably strong and historic place” on the finish of the legislative session, he stated. “Issues have labored out even higher.”







Sen. John Stinner end of year revenue 2022

John Stinner

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When lawmakers headed house in April, the fund was anticipated to hit a record-high $1.25 billion by June 30, 2023. The precise year-end income means the reserve will probably be nearer to $1.69 billion by the tip of subsequent June, equal to about 36% of annual spending.

By state regulation, the majority of tax revenues above the licensed forecast for the yr simply ended go robotically to the money reserve. Ricketts stated that would go away the money reserve with “considerably greater than what is required to serve Nebraskans.” 

OpenSky Coverage Institute Government Director Rebecca Firestone urged warning with the elevated income, given nationwide considerations about inflation and attainable recession.

“It’s actually excellent news that our tax receipts have been so sturdy over the previous yr however indicators of financial pressure are growing in Nebraska,” she stated. “We proceed to induce warning about discuss of additional tax cuts or enacting new spending applications till we will higher perceive the course Nebraska’s economic system is shifting in.”

Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, the Democratic candidate for governor, credited the constructive place, not less than partially, to federal stimulus {dollars} in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. She stated the numbers will probably drop within the subsequent two to 4 years.

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Nonetheless, Blood, who voted in favor of the tax bundle handed earlier this yr, questioned why the state continues “to gather taxes from our laborious working Nebraskans as an alternative of giving them true tax reduction yr after yr.”

“It’s been made clear {that a} surplus is required annually so sure elected officers can reward it again throughout election cycles as an alternative of permitting Nebraskans to maintain it of their pocket,” she stated.

Jim Pillen, the GOP candidate for governor, didn’t return a message looking for remark Friday.

The Nebraska Tax Price Overview Committee — a panel of prime lawmakers and the state’s tax commissioner — will evaluation the state’s monetary image on Monday, each the year-end tax revenues and up to date estimates of potential state bills. 

In line with the brand new report, particular person and company earnings taxes accounted for many of the improve in tax collections, whereas gross sales tax collections have been barely decrease than the February projections. Web gross sales taxes for the yr have been 2.1% beneath that forecast, whereas internet particular person earnings taxes have been 20.1% greater and internet company earnings taxes have been up 18.2%. 

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Nonetheless, Nebraska collected $123 million, or 6.14%, extra in internet gross sales taxes in the course of the just-completed fiscal yr than within the yr earlier than. Web particular person earnings tax collections have been $113 million, or 3.6%, greater than the prior yr and internet company earnings taxes have been $144 million, or 25.2%, greater.

Income Division spokeswoman Lydia Brasch stated she couldn’t level to a single trigger for the income uptick, apart from Nebraska’s continued financial energy.



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Nebraska

Busboom Kelly gets major pay bump as Nebraska volleyball head coach

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Busboom Kelly gets major pay bump as Nebraska volleyball head coach


LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – New Nebraska volleyball head coach Dani Busboom Kelly has signed a six-year, $4.575 million contract with the Huskers, set to begin Friday.

According to documents released by Nebraska Athletics, Busboom Kelly will earn a base salary of $700,000 in her first year, with annual increases of $25,000. By the final year of her contract, which runs through Jan. 31, 2031, she will make $825,000.

According to documents released by Nebraska Athletics, Dani Busboom Kelly will earn a base salary of $700,000 in her first year, with annual increases of $25,000. By the final year of her contract, which runs through Jan. 31, 2031, she will make $825,000.(Nebraska Athletics)

Her contract includes performance bonuses, including $50,000 if Nebraska wins the Big Ten Conference Championship and $100,000 if she is named AVCA National Coach of the Year.

She would also receive a $50,000 bonus for reaching the NCAA volleyball tournament’s Final Four and $100,000 for winning the national title.

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Another clause of the contract states that if the Huskers make it to the Final Four in any given year, the contract will be extended another year, with the same $25,000 base salary increase.

At Louisville, Busboom Kelly’s base salary was $400,000 through 2028.

Busboom Kelly will succeed her former coach and mentor, John Cook, who announced his retirement on Wednesday after 25 seasons as Nebraska’s head volleyball coach.

Cook was earning $825,000 before retiring, having signed a contract extension in May 2024.

Busboom Kelly will be formally introduced as the Huskers’ head coach on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The welcome event will be open to the public with an introductory press conference to follow.

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Parents deserve the right to choose what’s best for their children • Nebraska Examiner

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Parents deserve the right to choose what’s best for their children • Nebraska Examiner


Every parent wants their child to succeed. That looks different for every student — whether it’s academic excellence, social growth or emotional well-being. But ultimately it’s about helping each child reach their full potential. When a child struggles in school — whether academically, socially or emotionally — parents deserve real solutions to help them thrive.

This week is National School Choice Week, and it’s a reminder of the importance of empowering parents to choose the school that best meets their child’s unique needs. Public, private or parochial — every student deserves a chance to succeed in an environment that works for them. 

During my time in the Legislature, I worked with my colleagues, Gov. Pete Ricketts, and later Gov. Jim Pillen to champion education reform that supported kids, parents, teachers, and taxpayers.

Education matters

We mandated a focus on reading in early grades and testing for learning disabilities so conditions like dyslexia are diagnosed and addressed at an early age. We invested in teacher recruitment, retention and loan forgiveness programs. And we provided a record 38% increase in state funding for public schools, the largest increase in four decades.  

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This funding included a minimum of $1,500 per student in foundation aid that provided state funding to more than 180 rural school districts that otherwise weren’t receiving state K-12 equalization aid. We also increased how much the state would cover of special education costs from 42% to 80%, doubling the state’s commitment to children with special needs.  

Despite relentless opposition from the teachers union, a bipartisan majority of the Legislature passed school choice bills in 2023 and 2024. With the adoption of the Opportunity Scholarships Act tax credit program two years ago, Nebraska became the 49th state to approve a school choice bill. Last year the Legislature replaced that program with an education scholarship program funded with a $10 million state appropriation.

Through these two scholarship programs, more than 4,000 students from across the state were given access to the best educational fit for them.  These scholarships are making a life-changing difference for families in Norfolk, Seward, Beatrice, Omaha, Nebraska City, Ogallala, South Sioux City, David City, Grand Island, Lincoln and dozens more communities across the state. For many families, this is the first time they’ve been able to choose an educational path that meets their children’s needs. 

Tragically for these families, special interests led by unions spent more than $7 million misrepresenting these programs, which resulted in their repeal in November. There is a disturbing irony in the election results.  Former teachers union president Jenni Benson gave a TV interview in which she stated their repeal efforts wouldn’t take scholarships from kids. The union’s paid advertising stated the scholarship programs took money from public schools. And petition circulators said the program benefitted the rich when the program prioritized low-income families. Regardless of the barrage of false claims, several communities, who want and need better educational options voted not to repeal Opportunity Scholarships.  

These communities stretch across Nebraska, from the economically depressed urban areas of Omaha to Scotts Bluff County and communities as diverse as Lexington and Norfolk. 

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Growing elsewhere

Meanwhile school choice is advancing across the country with new and expanded programs proposed in Texas, North Dakota, Tennessee, South Dakota, Virginia and elsewhere.  

Across the Missouri River, Iowa’s education savings account (ESA) program will be accessible to all families regardless of income beginning this fall. Nebraska families deserve the same opportunities. 

Supporters of school choice in Nebraska won’t relent because the future of our kids is too important to walk away from. This year Nebraska lawmakers will consider several proposals to empower parents to choose the school that’s the best fit for their child, including an Iowa-style ESA, vouchers, and tax credit scholarships, among others.  

With more than 4,000 Nebraska students receiving scholarships in the current school year, a new program will be needed to keep those students from losing their newfound opportunity. I simply cannot believe Nebraskans are in favor of disrupting the education of 4,000 children who finally found the right school.

We must stand together for these children and protect their scholarships. This is common sense, and it should not be controversial. As Governor Jim Pillen said in his State of the State address, “Every child deserves a chance to succeed.”  

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Lou Ann Linehan served as chair of the Nebraska Legislature’s Revenue Committee for six years before being term-limited after 2024.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

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Cook retires after 722 volleyball wins at Nebraska

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Cook retires after 722 volleyball wins at Nebraska


Nebraska women’s volleyball coach John Cook, who won four NCAA titles in 25 seasons with the Cornhuskers, announced his retirement Wednesday.

Former Nebraska player and assistant Dani Busboom Kelly will take over the Huskers program after eight seasons leading Louisville.

“It’s been a great run,” Cook, 68, said in a statement released by Nebraska. “I want to thank my family for their support … I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great coaches and staff over the years, and I’m forever grateful for how hard they worked and for how much they gave to Nebraska volleyball.”

Busboom Kelly, 39, was a key player for the 2006 Huskers team that won the national championship in Omaha, Nebraska. She was a setter and a libero during her college playing career.

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She was Cook’s assistant in 2015, when Nebraska also won the NCAA title in Omaha. A Nebraska native, Busboom Kelly took over at Louisville in 2017 and went 203-43 with the Cardinals, leading them to the Final Four three times. That included national championship match appearances in 2022, when the Cardinals lost to Texas, and in 2024, when they fell to Penn State.

Busboom Kelly’s Cardinals won or shared the ACC title four times, and she was AVCA National Coach of the Year in 2021, when Louisville made the Final Four for the first time in program history.

Busboom Kelly agreed to a six-year contract with Nebraska, the school announced.

“The opportunity to come home to Nebraska is more than a dream come true,” she said in a statement. “A huge thank you to John Cook. I would not be here without his mentorship and support.

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“I’ve gotten chills listening to the roars (for Nebraska volleyball) since I was 9 years old. Nebraska is the greatest place in the world to play volleyball and I am honored to be a part of it once again! My family and I can’t wait to get to work and bring more championships home.”

Cook, a San Diego native, began his coaching career at the high school level in California and then was a college assistant at UC San Diego and Nebraska before becoming head coach at Wisconsin in 1992. After seven seasons with the Badgers, he returned to Nebraska as associate head coach in 1999 and then took over the Huskers in 2000, when he won his first NCAA title. The Huskers’ other national championships were in 2006, 2015 and 2017.

Cook has led the Huskers to 12 appearances in the Final Four, including this past season when they lost to Penn State in the semifinals.

Cook won nine regular-season titles when Nebraska was in the Big 12 and five when the school moved to the Big Ten. His career head coaching record is 883-176 (.834), the fifth-best winning percentage all time for a Division I volleyball coach.

Cook was 722-103 at Nebraska, which is the best winning percentage (.875) for any Division I program over the past 25 years. He was a three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year. Under Cook, Nebraska produced five Olympians, three AVCA Division I National Player of the Year award winners and 72 AVCA All-Americans.

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Nebraska also set the standard for volleyball attendance, consistently selling out its former home, the NU Coliseum (which held 4,125), during the first half of Cook’s career and then doing the same in the larger Devaney Center (8,300) when the team relocated there in 2013. Nebraska has sold out 337 consecutive regular-season home matches since 2001 and has led the nation in attendance every season since moving to the Devaney Center.

Under Cook, the Huskers also set a world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event on Aug. 30, 2023, when Nebraska faced Omaha at Memorial Stadium before a crowd of 92,003.

“For me personally, the greatest accomplishment in coaching is seeing former players go into coaching or other careers and taking the lessons they’ve learned from being a Nebraska volleyball player and applying it to their everyday lives,” Cook said.

“Lastly and most importantly, I want to thank the fans for always supporting Nebraska volleyball. I’ve always said to ‘Dream Big,’ and we’ve dreamed bigger than any volleyball program in the history of the world.”



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