September 18, 2018
The Twin Platte Natural Resources District board approved the district’s new budget at their meeting on Thursday night, and they are asking for $505,000 less in property tax revenue than they received last year.
In FY 2017-18, they received $2,004,850 and in FY 2018-19, the board will ask for $1,499,850. That is a 25 percent reduction.
NRDs are named for the watersheds where they are situated, and do not follow county boundaries. They are established by state law, with responsibility to manage natural resources, primarily water, and are given taxing authority. About two-thirds (66.3 percent) of Twin Platte NRD is in Lincoln County, 27.1 percent in Keith County, 3.6 percent in Arthur County and 3 percent in McPherson County.
Thursday night, nobody spoke in the public comment period and the budget passed on unanimous vote of the board of directors.
The new property tax rate is 2.3 cents per $100 valuation compared to 3.1 cents per $100 last year, a 25.7 percent reduction. Kent Miller, Twin Platte NRD general manager, noted that rates last year were also lower than the year before.
The NRD is also reducing occupation taxes on irrigated ground within the district, from $10 per acre to $6.50 per acre, a 35 percent reduction.
