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Governor Says Cuts Will Allow Balanced Budget

By John Nxon

01/30/2017

(KLZA)-- Governor Pete Ricketts met with constituents in Falls City Friday afternoon discussing his ideas on dealing with an estimated $900-million deficit in the next two-year budget cycle.

The Governor says he believes the state can cut its way out of the deficit and balance the budget without raising taxes.

The Governors budget proposal limits government growth to 1.7 percent each of the next two years, an amount significantly less than in recent years.

Ricketts said farm income has decreased 39% in Nebraska from 2012 and 13 to 2015. Farm income is likely to have declined in 2016, and could continue to slide in 2017.

Calling agriculture the heart and soul of the state, the Governor has submitted a proposal to change the way ag-land is assessed, intending to tie it more closely to income potential.

The plan is to implement this new valuation program in January 2019, giving entities time to adjust their budgets to the coming changes.

Governor Ricketts also discussed a plan to gradually cut state income tax from the current 6.84 percent. The proposal is to begin in January of 2020 to decrease the rate a tenth of a percent per year, if revenues grow by 3.5 percent or more. The goal is to get the income tax rate to 5.99 percent.

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