Nebraska Gov Jim Pillen delivered his first State of the State address Wednesday morning, spelling out plans to drastically cut taxes while increasing funding to state schools and holding the line on regular state spending.
Pillen repeated his plans to increase spending on K-12 public education by more than $2 billion dollars over the next 6 years while cutting income taxes $1.5-billion and providing another $2.4-billion in property tax relief through 2027.
Pillen’s proposed 2-year state budget holds annual growth to just 1.3% – less than half of the level of predecessor Pete Ricketts – with a $164.6 million increase next fiscal year and just half-a-million more the following year.
The plan relies on leveraging the state’s state’s huge cash reserve, predicted to reach $2.3 billion by this summer to fund Pillen’s proposed increase in school spending and decrease in taxes.
The increased school aid comes with a 3% annual lid on property tax increases while the property tax relief includes replacing the community college tax with $300-million dollars from the state general fund.
Pillen said it’s crucial for Nebraska to attract and retain more students for the future workforce – not just more engineers, scientists, nurses, and teachers but also welders, electricians, and technicians for computer-dependent cars, trucks, and farm equipment – with the community colleges having a higher calling than ever before.
While most state agencies have been told not to expect budget increases over the next two years except for salary increases of around 2%, some agencies will see more funding.
Corrections will get a $29-million dollar boost to help hire more staff with Pillen also calling for more money to build a new prison. He also plans to add another $75-million to a planned canal to take water from the South Platte River in Colorado, pushing the total for that project to $574.6-million dollars.