Nebraska Supreme Court states additional property taxes as unconstitutional

If this ever happens, it will not only be considered as epochal but as a new beginning also. It has been learnt that deliberations are going on to return the money to the residents of southwest Nebraska who paid millions in property taxes under part of a water law deemed unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. In this regard State Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial is going to be instrumental since he has already stated said he would bring in a measure to the Legislature requiring that residents of the Republican River basin be repaid between approximately $2 million to $2.5 million in property taxes.

What made him proceed in this way? Well, his answer, in this context, to the Natural Resources Committee of the Legislature can be cited. He said with a firm conviction, “I believe a refund of all property taxes … is an honorable thing for the Legislature to do.” It is to be noted that the power of natural resources districts in the river basin to amass more property taxes was granted by state lawmakers in 2007, although the Republican River basin had set property taxes by then.

However there is a problem and it is regarding Kansas. The state has a firm belief that Nebraska has been using Republican River water more and as a result has breached the agreement in 2005 and 2006 by using billions of gallons more than Nebraska had any right to. This has resulted into an uproar in the region and Kansas’ demand of compensation to Nebraska worth millions of dollars.

According to undisclosed sources, the money was believed to repay bonds that would finance measures to send Kansas the water it is owed in future years. The measures included buying water from farmers, paying farmers to take land out of irrigated production and maybe even pumping groundwater into the river to send to Kansas.

However it was the Nebraska Supreme Court, on earlier this month, which made all the difference stating that the additional property taxing authority was principally for state, not local, purposes and was unconstitutional hence.