Douglas County residents attended a budget hearing to express concerns about rising property taxes after receiving notifications of potential increases, with some fearing they may be priced out of their homes.
Sara Al-Marhoon said her property taxes have increased every year for the past three years.
"If you like look at it like on here, so it's been every year. Last year it was about $600 that it would have gone up. Um, and so it's been going up pretty drastically year by year. So by the time I actually managed to pay off my home, the taxes are going to force me out of the home itself," Al-Marhoon said.
The City of Omaha, Ralston, Douglas County, Bennington Public Schools, and Omaha Public Schools presented their property tax requests during the hearing.
Omaha Public Schools requested $409,227,765 in property taxes. The total assessed value of property differs from last year's total assessed value by 5.25%.
Property taxes make up 38% of Omaha Public Schools' revenue.
Alan Seybert criticized current levy rates, saying "Omaha's levy is 1.5% too high and Douglas County's is 9% too high. That amounts to $1.6 million a year for Omaha and $16 million a year for Douglas County."
Property valuations also factor into tax calculations, which resident Vern Carlson described as "out of control."
"Like I've watched, I own two properties, one rental and one single family home that I live in, and I've watched the valuations of my home on Zillow and these valuations go like this and. That, you know, I like the idea that the price of my house is going up, but, but I don't like the idea of unaffordable housing," Carlson said.
Many residents agreed that while increasing property values are positive, they don't want to be priced out of their homes because of rising taxes.
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