OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The Omaha City Council president said he wants the Legislature to disband the Nebraska Tax Equalization and Review Commission or add oversight by elected officials.
The full council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Council President Ben Gray’s proposal. The proposal is in response to a commission order earlier this year for Douglas County to adjust tax valuation in two areas of the county, according to the Omaha World-Herald (https://bit.ly/2eO57Q6 ).
On the council, Gray represents northeast Omaha, where values decreased on about 20,000 properties. Officials have said they are concerned that the decreases will depress home values, discourage renovations by homeowners and cause people to sell their homes for less than what they’re worth.
“There is not going to be any shortage of words from me. There is not going to be any letting up from me,” Gray said. “The TERC board needs to either go or needs to have oversight. What they did was a recipe for disaster in north Omaha. That’s unacceptable.”
The commission has increased values for about 78,000 residential properties in central and west Omaha.
In addition to Gray’s proposal, the council members will also vote on whether they should instruct city lobbyist Jack Cheloha to ask legislators to introduce a number of new bills. Some of these include proposing a ban on facsimile weapons, a repeal of the good time law and suggestions on county court from the new city prosecutor.
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, https://www.omaha.com
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