Hours after Nebraska lawmakers sent a feeble property tax relief package to his desk Tuesday morning, Gov. Jim Pillen signed it into law as senators adjourned for the summer, marking a disappointing end to the special legislative session he called last month to deliver "transformational" tax reform. Surrounded by more than a dozen lawmakers who helped deliver the package to Pillen's desk after a contentious 17-day session, the governor signed the tax package that will cut various state budgets, place an infl ationary cap on annual budget increases for cities and counties and pour $750 million into a property tax relief fund.
Much of that relief, though, will be funded by front-loading an existing tax credit program that more than half of Nebraska's property taxpayers are already tapping — limiting the aid the plan will actually provide to many homeowners and marking a letdown for both lawmakers and Pillen, who had promised to deliver more than $2 billion in property tax cuts this year. "In terms of how much do we celebrate, I'm not sure we should be getting our hands going across our back and slapping our backs too much," Pillen said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, moments before he signed the tax package into law. "The people of Nebraska will be the judges.
" At the same time, Pillen called the tax package "a big deal" and promised to seek additional property tax relief when lawmakers reconvene in January, calling the package he signed into law Tuesday a starting po.