By Eric Pool

3/10/2024

The County Commissioners have raised the property taxes by 13% since 2020. The County Property tax request has gone from $5.490 million to $6.195 million currently.

The county purchased the Goodwin Jackson Street building to expand government for the county attorney's office. That cost raised the property taxes of every taxpayer in the county. The county courthouse was built in 1966-67 when the county's population was about 12,000. In 1970 the population was about 11,000, in 1980 about 10,000, and has hovered around that ever since. It's now 9500, why are we continuing to expand buildings and government when the population is declining and technology is improving? 

The LB644 meeting in September 2022 was a complete lack of transparency to the taxpayers. Only one Commissioner showed up and the justification for the increase in spending and an 8% tax increase was a savings account for a murder trial. The tax increase was $453,000 for the 2022-2023 budget. The tax increase was never reversed and another 2% was tacked on in the latest budget approval. The spending needs to be curtailed and the trend reversed.

Commissioner Miller voted and approved all these spending and tax increases over the past several years; we simply cannot afford to have another 4 years of these spending and tax policies. I plan to work with department heads to encourage a strategic reduction in the current spending levels and reverse the spending back down while protecting critical services and priorities. I’ve read several years of the county budgets, there is room to tighten the belt just as families, businesses, and farms have had to do over the past several years. It’s time to reduce the spending and reverse this continuous increase in taxes. If we vote for the incumbents who have raised spending, increased taxes, and taken out debt over the past several years; we will simply be sending the message that we approve of these spending and tax policies. We can continue to provide critical services and maintenance while exercising fiscal responsibility. We can champion lower spending and taxes.

Eight years is enough, let’s take a different perspective and exercise some conservative fiscal policies that work for all of Cheyenne County. Vote out all incumbents who have lacked transparency, raised spending, increased taxes, and have not listened to the voice of the people of Cheyenne County.

If you want change, transparency, and fiscal responsibility with lower spending and taxes; Please vote for me, Eric Pool in the Republican Primary on May 14th for Cheyenne County District 1 County Commissioner.