Superintendent Discusses Taxes at FPS Board Meeting

According to Fairbury Public School Superintendent Stephen Grizzle, he has heard that some people are blaming the schools for an anticipated increase in taxes. Grizzle addressed that subject at a meeting of the Board of Education on Monday, June 13.Grizzle said, “We’re in the time of year where tax statements are going out and I’ve been told that some people have complained to the county that taxes are going up and word around the courthouse is that it’s the school’s fault.”Instead, Grizzle put the blame on increasing land valuations, “I thought I would highlight a couple of things that refutes that notion. Just a reminder. Ag land valuations really went on a tear between around 2009 and 2016. Those valuations increases really caused unprecedented tax increases for our ag producers all across Nebraska. And just in the last couple of years, the residential valuations are just now starting to catch up.”Grizzle began with FPS in the 2015-2016 school year.“Remember, the first two years when I was here, we started addressing our facility needs, so that was the reason why our tax request went up significantly in those first two years,” said Grizzle. “Since then, our tax request has gone down.”Grizzle pointed out that this last year’s tax request, “Is at a five year low of our tax request and we have decreased our tax request for three straight years. So, we’ve been doing our part on being conservative and working within our means the best that we can.”“It’s not the school’s fault,” Grizzle added. “Their property taxes are going up. When valuations go up, it’s inevitable that your taxes are going to go up.”FJN reached out to Jefferson County Commissioners, who indicated they have not heard anyone blame the schools for the increase in taxes. Commissioner Mark Schoenrock said, “I have not had that concern expressed to me. I have pro-actively had discussions with our citizens about the cost of everything significantly increasing (labor, parts, fuel, equipment, services, supplies, etc). County government has to pay those increased costs, just the same as individuals and businesses. I believe it will be a challenging budget process this year to determine what gets funded, at what levels and still provide the essential governmental services that serve our citizens.”Commissioner have repeatedly expressed frustration with those who complain about taxes, budgets or other community issues, but do not get involved with the process. Schoenrock said, “As elected officials, I believe one of our principal responsibilities is to be prudent managers of the tax revenue that is provided to county government by the hard work of our taxpayers, to determine priorities and to deliver those essential services to our citizens that makes Jefferson County a great place to live and work. The Jefferson County board of commissioners works very hard to establish and execute those priorities in our annual multi-week, multi-faceted complex budget process July through September. Those are all open public hearings and are usually not well attended. I am hopeful that we have more citizen participation this year so that our citizens can see, understand and give their input into the budget process.”

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