What about the smoking ban? That's what some readers wanted to know after the state released the results of an inquiry into Lincoln's lagging sales tax collections.
Posted: Monday, January 14, 2008 6:00 pm
What about the smoking ban?
That’s what some readers wanted to know after the state released the results of an inquiry into Lincoln’s lagging sales tax collections.
The state Department of Revenue concluded that Lincoln was underserved by retail prior to a building boom in the 1990s that led to double-digit increases in sales tax revenue.
But those days are over, and the city is now seeing more modest growth that’s in line with the state and Omaha.
A few readers wanted to know why the city’s 2004 smoking ban wasn’t mentioned as a possible factor. The city’s net sales tax collections have increased less than 1 percent each of the past two years.
David Dearmont, administrator of the research division of the Revenue Department, said his department didn’t dig into the smoking ban’s effect, but sales tax numbers for bars and restaurants did dip a little in 2004-05. He noticed that at first bars appeared to have been hurt by the smoking ban, but restaurants did a little better. Omaha’s numbers also dipped that year, he said, and that city didn’t have a ban.
The bar and restaurant numbers since have come back.
“I think people got used to it,” he said of the ban.
And the survey says…
Following in the footsteps of many cities that poll residents to find out what they think of the job their municipal government is doing, the mayor is considering conducting a citizen survey in the next few months.
If you judged citizens’ opinions based on who shows up for City Hall meetings, or the online comments on city government stories, you might assume there’s a lot of discontent out there. Some city leaders believe citizen surveys offer a much more balanced look at how the masses feel about certain issues.
Mayoral aide Rick Hoppe said the city is putting specifications together now to try to find a company that does these kinds of surveys, preferably with Nebraska ties.
They will likely try to gauge what people like and dislike about city government, what they think it should accomplish and how citizens want to finance government. What are people willing to pay for, and what aren’t they? Crucial questions as the city faces either a property tax increase or more belt-tightening.
Intersection safety beefed up
The intersection that was the site of a tragic year-end car accident will get some safety enhancements.
Flags will be added to stop signs to draw more attention to them, and rumble strips are being added at the intersection of 56th Street and Yankee Hill Road, where a 12-month-old girl was killed and her mother seriously injured. Police said the woman ran a stop sign and was hit by another car.
Shifting to new budgeting style
City departments have their budget mandate, and it’s not much different than the one they’ve had in the past several years around this time: Come up with a budget that cuts spending by 3.5 percent.
They’ve had to mold budgets with similar spending reductions for several years, as sales tax revenue has lagged in Lincoln. But this year, Beutler is shifting to “outcome-based budgeting,” which will require departments to determine their budget outcomes by Feb. 1 so he can begin deciding which outcomes to use while putting the budget together.
It will take two years for the city to shift to this new budgeting style, and this year Beutler said he’ll focus on such security-related departments as police, fire, 911 and health departments.
Bowen lands at UNMC
The former chief of staff for Mayor Coleen Seng, Mark Bowen, landed a job in Omaha following his dismissal when Beutler took office. The December issue of a University of Nebraska Medical Center publication indicates Bowen is government affairs director for the medical center.
Mayor: We’ll finish Denton Road
Mayor Chris Beutler has decided to go ahead and finish West Denton Road near southwest Lincoln.
The road has been a concern to residents who use it and see its current detour as a safety problem. A quarter-mile portion of the road has been closed since last year and was to be rebuilt to connect with U.S. 77 without a curve.
Developers of Southwest Village at U.S. 77 and West Denton had planned to finish the road as part of their agreement with the city, but the shopping center project is on hold because Wal-Mart decided not to build a Supercenter there. At one time, three big box stores were planned.
On Monday, Beutler said the city will pave the quarter-mile, and it should be done between July 4 and Thanksgiving.
The city will use about $1.1 million that was set aside from highway allocation bond proceeds. The city hopes to be reimbursed the estimated three-quarters of a million dollars through impact fees.
She said it
“What are you doing reading Stiletto magazine?” — Councilwoman Robin Eschliman, after Urban Development Director David Landis “accidentally” put a copy of Stiletto magazine on the overhead instead of a map. He did it because the new Lincoln women’s magazine features Eschliman on the cover.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.