Yes or no: Norfolk battles over proposed financing initiative

NORFOLK, Neb. -- Vote yes…or no. Come early November, voters in Norfolk will decide on a half-cent sales tax proposal that could provide major improvements to Norfolk.

Advocates say the plan is all about improving Norfolk for the future and the hope is not only to encourage younger folks to stay in the community, but also to recruit younger families to the city. But, the opposition says it’ll cost too much.

The slogan for ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ includes three words: Safety. Streets. Sports. 

If approved by voters in November, the city of Norfolk will pay for the three proposed projects using a 0.5% sales tax increase over 20 years.

The safety aspect of the plan will include an expansion and renovations to the Norfolk Police Division Facility which was built in 1986.

Proponents of ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ have argued renovating and expanding the Police Division building is long overdue.

According to the ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ website, the preliminary cost estimate is $8.5 million for the police facility expansion.

The streets part of the plan includes a number of planned repairs and renovations to existing streets and intersections.

This part of the proposal is estimated to cost around $12 million.

Finally, the sports part of the plan will include major renovations for Ta-Ha-Zouka Park’s sports facilities and an indoor aquatic center. The cost for the proposed aquatic center is expected to cost around $32 million and $15 million for the improvements of Ta-Ha-Zouka Park.

Jim McKenzie, who has been outspoken against the ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ proposal, said he has concerns.

On the ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ website, the project costs of the overall plan is expected to be around $67-to-$78 million.

McKenzie doesn’t think that number is accurate. He says it’s going to cost upwards of $110 million.

“The number of $110 million dollars comes from a spreadsheet I got from public records that I got from a public record request from the city finance officer,” McKenzie said. “That’s where that $110 million dollars came from.”

The overall project will include a 20-year bond. McKenzie says this wouldn’t be good for the city.

“It just seemed like an enormous ask and would put the city in a tight spot for a full 20 years,” McKenzie said. “That was the genesis of us kind of coming together and say ‘gosh, we really got to get this information out and we think this puts the city in a tough financial position and the community in a tough financial position." 

NCN also spoke with the mayor of Norfolk, Josh Moenning who has been a strong advocate of ‘Vote Yes’.

Moenning disagreed with McKenzie and called it “deliberate misinformation."

“I think that $110 million dollars figure is misleading at best,” said Moenning. “The cost of these projects, all three of those areas is $65-to-$70 million.”

Moenning didn’t deny that the city will have a 20-year bond with the overall project, but added the city has a good track record of paying things off earlier than expected.

“If you look just 10 years ago, when the city of Norfolk approved a 20-year bond to pay for AquaVenture and Memorial Field improvements, that was almost paid off 10 years earlier than anticipated,” Moenning said. “That’s because the city grew. It started to collect more tax revenues.”

The treasurer for ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’, Jim Bradford, said he thinks there’s a great chance this proposal will get paid off early as well.

“I would anticipate we’ll pay this off early,” said Bradford. “Certainly, no guarantee to that, but I don’t know why we wouldn’t because I think revenues will increase.”

McKenzie stated the city had no buy-in from the community when they announced the proposal.

“The total costs and the tax implications of this proposal were only released two working days before the council voted on it,” he said. “It was released on a council agenda on a Thursday [and] they voted on it on Monday. The general public had no idea what was coming.”

The ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ side has stated that’s not the case.

They have said there have been more than a dozen public meetings about the proposal this year. 

“There’s some assertion that this was some backroom dealing and not presented to the public until the last minute," Moenning said. "There has been fifteen meetings that has been accessible to the public."

According to Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) research, these projects are investments that will bring new money to the community to the tune of nearly $5 million per year.

Furthermore, according to NPPD economic development pull factor studies over the past five years, non-residents have contributed 42% to 44% of Norfolk’s sales tax revenue.

McKenzie said he doesn’t know where those numbers came from.

“The 44% number was put out by the city of Norfolk and the 'vote yes' people," said McKenzie. “They say it came from a NPPD study. I’ve accessed the referenced NPPD study. I called the NPPD economic development team [and] they told me point blank that the 44% is not in the study and it did not come from them.”

Moenning disagreed and also encourages people to go look at the numbers for themselves.

“You can go to NPPD. I encourage you to reach out to them,” Moenning said. “There’s information on the city website as to how that number was calculated. All out in the open. All transparent. Anybody can view it."

On Nov. 8, voters will decide if this proposal will pass or not. Bradford said even if the proposal doesn’t pass this time around, it will eventually.

“You have to be concerned that if it does not pass, these things will eventually be passed I can guarantee you that and it’ll be property tax instead of sales tax,” said Bradford. 

McKenzie also said he’s all for making Norfolk a more desirable place to live, but he wants it done without taxes being raised.

“If those proposals can be completed in a satisfactory financial method for the community, absolutely,” McKenzie said.

As for money raised by both sides, the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission requires the submittal of information if a group exceeds $5,000.

‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ formed a political action committee on Oct. 4 since their raised funds went over $5,000. According to the NADC, ‘Vote Yes Norfolk’ has raised $23,700. 

Bradford said those funds are directly going towards paying for advertisements, signs, and other things that could help the campaign.

McKenzie said, ‘Vote No Norfolk’ has not exceeded $5,000 and does not legally have to submit financial records.