Many Nebraska property owners experienced sticker shock upon seeing their assessed valuations earlier this year, but how does that relate to property taxes levied?

RSVP today for OpenSky’s Fall Policy Symposium, your opportunity to gather with Nebraska’s key thinkers and policy leaders to discuss valuation practices and the other major policy issues.

Join us Tuesday, Oct. 24, at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. Check-in starts at 8 a.m., with the program beginning at 8:30.

As land valuations and property tax levies are a regular topic for debate and further action on property taxes is expected in the upcoming legislative session, panelists (highlighted below) will explore best practices in agricultural land valuation across the region and how to balance the property tax base across agricultural, commercial and residential property owners to ensure sustainable and equitable revenues for local governments while also considering policy innovations to support taxpayers.

  • Cathy Lang, Executive Director of the Nebraska Business Development Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and former Property Tax Administrator for the state of Nebraska
  • Dr. John Anderson, Baird Family Professor of Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Distinguished Scholar at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
  • Mike Owen, Deputy Director of Common Good Iowa
  • Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, moderator, representing District 24 in the Nebraska Legislature

Those in attendance at this year’s Symposium can also pick up a copy of OpenSky’s latest primer, Taking Ownership: An Overview of Property Taxes in Nebraska.

Keynote speaker Professor Timothy J. Nelson of Princeton University will open the Symposium with groundbreaking research on why the Upper Midwest has less poverty, longer life expectancies and greater chances for children than other regions of the country, and how Nebraska can continue to offer “the good life” to everyone.

The Symposium’s other panel discussions will focus on Nebraska’s ongoing workforce challenges and the role state and local fines and fees play as a revenue source.

Tickets are $25 (free for senators, legislative staff and the media), and scholarships are available. Contact Luke Sutton at lsutton@openskypolicy.org or 402-438-0382 for more information.

As a special offer, the first 100 people who register will receive a free copy of Nelson’s new book, The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America. Reserve your seat today.