The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, has begun to dominate the headlines. To say that events are unfolding rapidly on a global, national, state and even local level, would seem an enormous understatement. We are in uncharted waters, with many unknowns. But the goal needs to be to reduce the spread and impact as best we can, in order to protect the most vulnerable among us. That means adhering to the recommendations of our experts on issues such as hygiene and social distancing. Besides the obvious benefits, slowing the spread of this virus will help prevent overloading our healthcare system, which is a critical factor in our efforts to contain COVID-19, and to continue to allow hospitals to treat folks who need care for other ailments and injuries.

The spread of COVID-19, and efforts to control it, create a wide range of ripple effects, including potentially significant economic disruptions. President Trump and Congress have proposed programs to help address some of the negative economic impacts. The federal response will be critical to minimizing the economic ramifications.

In the legislature, we debated the budget bills last week. Part of the discussion centered on the need to maintain some budget flexibility to help fund any state response to COVID-19. Fortunately, the current budget adjustments will leave us with over $700 million in the rainy day fund. This is in stark contrast to the roughly $300 million in that fund just a few years ago. This robust rainy day balance can help us weather almost any unwelcome impacts to our revenue picture, should they arise. I will also note that this $700 million balance is after dedicating over $500 million to property tax relief over the next three years.

Speaking of property tax relief, efforts continue on coming to a solution that will allow property tax relief and business incentives to cross the finish line. Discussions in the legislature got somewhat heated last Thursday on the issue of tying business incentive advancement to property tax reform. Obviously, some urban senators want to see business incentives advance while leaving property tax reform behind. That is not an option.

I’ve maintained all along that the issues of business incentives and property tax reform present an opportunity for rural and urban interests to come together and do what's best for our entire state.

Our response to COVID-19 presents the same opportunity. We need to put aside our parochial interests to ensure we are doing everything possible to protect the health and economic well-being of all Nebraskans.

As always, feel free to reach out to me or my staff with any thoughts or comments.

As I write this, we know that the legislature will not be in session for at least this week, based on recommendations from the CDC and public health officials. While we remain out of session, both my staff and I will be working from home, in order to do our part to minimize contact with others and slow the spread of the virus.

I want to encourage you to continue to e-mail us through my office email, [email protected], and to call the office at 402-471-2631 and leave a message. We will be checking messages throughout the day. Please stay healthy and keep apprised of the latest recommendations of our health care experts.