The Hall County Agricultural Society would like to levy an additional $200,000 a year in property tax for the potential State Fair grounds in Grand Island.
The agricultural society, which runs the Hall County Fair, made the request Wednesday morning before the Hall County Board of Supervisors, which was beginning its annual budget work.
The agricultural society currently levies about $153,000 per year in property tax for the operation of the county fair. The additional property tax for the State Fair would bring the total request up to about $360,000.
The ag society would like to levy an additional 0.6 of a cent per $100 of assessed valuation for real estate and capital improvements at Fonner Park, which serves as the site for the Hall County Fair and would also become the site of the Nebraska State Fair.
The Legislature approved a new state law this spring that authorizes moving the fair to Grand Island by 2010. The community would have to raise $8.5 million to make the move possible, however.
Hall County Agricultural Society Executive Treasurer Brian Bangs, of the Wood River certified public accounting firm Bangs and Stewart, estimated the additional levy would raise about $204,000 per year.
The ag society proposes having the additional levy in place for about five to seven years, said Chris Stewart, also of Bangs and Stewart.
Fair Manager Corby Flagle said the additional money is needed regardless of whether the State Fair relocates to Grand Island because fair buildings at Fonner Park need renovation.
"There are a lot of buildings that need improvement," Flagle told supervisors.
During questioning from the supervisors, Flagle said the fair board does not own any of the fair buildings nor the ground on which they sit. All the buildings belong to Fonner Park, but the fair board feels a need to put back into the facilities to improve the fair for 4-H participants and fair goers.
Nevertheless, the property tax increase is a substantial one, supervisors said.
"I'm not prepared to say yes," Supervisor Pam Lancaster said. "I want it understood I'm a proponent of the State Fair, but this indeed will raise property taxes."
Supervisor Jim Eriksen said he's concerned about the fair board's request because he wants to keep the county's tax levy equal to last year's.
That will be a big task for the county, according to county budget consultant Brad Fegley.
"It's just an estimate … but to keep the levy the same as last year, you'll have to cut $1.2 million from what's been turned in" for budget requests, Fegley said. "And a lot of the increase is from health insurance. It's $800,000 higher."
Even if the county can't make enough cuts to keep the levy the same as last year's, it doesn't have a lot of room to raise taxes under state law.
After hearing the budget requests on Wednesday from the ag society; fire districts from Cairo, Doniphan, Grand Island Rural, Shelton and Wood River; plus Stuhr Museum and the Central Nebraska Regional Airport, Fegley had bad news for the county board.
"You are at 50 cents," he said.
Fifty cents per $100 of assessed valuation is the statutory limit on the amount of property taxes a county can levy. Comprising the levy amount is the amount of property tax needed for the county's general fund, the largest fire district in the county, the airport and the ag society.
The county board heard budget requests from outside agencies Wednesday morning and will hear from county department heads on July 30 and 31 and Aug. 4.
Outside agency requests to the county
Here is the amount of property tax requested for the coming year compared to last year's asking by the following entities. Sinking funds are a type of savings account that fire districts use to save money for a major equipment purchase.
- Entity 2007-08 tax 2008-09 request
- Hall County Ag Society $152,980 $360,470
- Cairo Fire, general fund $22,064 $22,505
- Cairo Fire, sinking fund $14,671 $14,964
- Cairo Fire, bond $16,800 $16,800
- Doniphan Fire, general $41,111 $41,934
- Doniphan Fire, sinking fund $51,005 $52,025
- Grand Island Rural Fire, general fund $129,567 $132,158
- Grand Island Rural Fire, sinking fund $137,403 $140,152
- Grand Island Rural Fire, bond $61,200 $61,200
- Shelton Fire, general fund $15,997 $16,317
- Shelton Fire, sinking fund $10,001 $10,201
- Shelton Fire, bond fund $30,600 $30,600
- Wood River Fire, general fund $15,181 $15,485
- Wood River Fire, sinking fund $16,285 $16,611
- Wood River Fire, bond $36,400 $36,400
- Stuhr Museum $908,000 $926,000
- Airport, general fund $434,010 $442,680
- Airport, bond $289,703 $377,563
Source: Hall County board budget hearing
