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At a Sept. 21 special public hearing, staff outlined about $18 million in capital priorities and proposed normalizing the 2026 millage to 5.9 mills. Dozens of residents urged delay, questioned transparency and urged using fund balance instead of raising property taxes.

Council designated City Administrator Butcher to work with the Department of Revenue to review sales- and use-tax reporting after staff flagged possible anomalies tied to Nebraska Advantage/Imagine Nebraska rebates; Butcher said a preliminary estimate suggested roughly $800,000 in rebates could affect next year's revenue, and cautioned that most raw tax data is proprietary and cannot be fully disclosed to the city.

City Manager Jacob Meski presented an 8‑to‑10‑year facility and infrastructure plan including an $18M library, $17M city hall and a $45M public‑safety expansion; staff modeling shows the combined plan could raise taxes on a $350,000 home roughly $83–$107 per month at peak if repaid solely through the debt levy, and council asked staff for additional repayment‑source modeling and to return to the Oct. meeting.

Council approved corrections to the 2025–26 budget ordinance and adopted the 2026–27 budget with date corrections, and voted to adopt a property tax ordinance maintaining a 0.25 total tax rate; staff flagged payroll-tax estimate and exhibit formatting errors to be corrected.

Our friends and colleagues in Australia of the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability & Research, Tax Justice Network Australia, and researchers from the University of Technology Sydney...

A new report says Midwest states such as Illinois are doing a poor job of disclosing the amount of money that local data centers are saving from tax breaks, and

The City Council unanimously approved Ordinance No. 10788 adopting a $504,000,000 FY2026–27 budget that the city describes as a 'no new revenue' tax-rate budget, with $46,000,000 in one-time capital funded from cash rather than debt.

The council adopted a preliminary property tax levy setting a 6.85% maximum for 2027 (down from 8.65% proposed earlier). Finance Director Reinhart described revenue adjustments, a plan to use fund balance to cancel a 2022A bond levy, and SAFER grant funding that helped hire firefighters and supports a transition to 24/7 coverage at both stations.

Lomax School District alters escrow due to reduced voter-approved funding collections.

Senator Martin's bill mandates inclusion of taxpayer data in property tax incidence report.

Cobb County residents can now see estimated tax rollback rates on assessment notices.

Item 7a on short-term rentals was continued to a Sept. 21 workshop. Residents asked how short-term rental taxes flow to the town and councilors requested a five-year history of short-term rental revenue from the manager.

City council faces potential 32% tax increase as public safety funding proposals advance.

A councilmember asked that the contentious Community Facilities District (CFD) tax increase be brought back for review after residents and one councilmember said staff reports did not make clear that some parcels face a 19% effective increase.

Franklin County commissioners voted 16–0 to approve the 2022 certified tax rate but rejected a motion to adopt the consolidated county budget, leaving budgetary appropriations unresolved and prompting the chairman to ask the school board to revise its submission.

Superintendent Guzman and district staff presented a $49,240,000 proposed 2026–27 budget (4.84% increase) and a separate voter proposition to authorize up to $1.6 million from capital reserves for roof, fascia and HVAC work; the board scheduled the budget vote for May 19, 2026.

Multiple residents at the Douglas County hearing described large, recent increases in assessed values and asked why officials did not provide earlier notice; commenters urged transparency, administrative cost cuts, and targeted relief rather than across‑the‑board levy hikes.

Staff presented a revised draft resolution proposing a general obligation bond for the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot to address aging facilities. Trustees requested clearer language in the resolution and full text to make explicit that any new bond levy will not overlap with existing series and that taxpayers should not see a tax‑rate increase.

Communications committee previewed outreach for a proposed state constitutional amendment on the permanent school fund, emphasizing messages that it is not a tax increase and that a blank vote counts as a no; staff will publish a flyer and website resources and consider a short video from the superintendent.