The proposed Good Life District, (Woodsonia Real Estate Inc., Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND — Grand Island’s City Council voted 8-0 Tuesday, June 18, to have a special election to determine whether the city should be authorized to establish a Good Life Economic Development Program within the approved Good Life District.
The program would allow the city to recapture the state’s 2.75 percent foregone sales tax and use that revenue for the Good Life district. Council members Jack Sheard and Mark Stelk were absent from Tuesday’s meeting. Council member Chuck Haase made the motion for the special election. The meeting lasted approximately 30 minutes.
The special election is tentatively set for Aug. 13. It would be a “mail in” election.
Hall County Election Commissioner Tracy Overstreet said Wednesday that as soon as the city gives her the required paperwork, she will submit a request to the state for a special election.
“That’s what I’m working to organize,” Overstreet said.
“It appears that this would qualify” for a special election, Overstreet said. She expects to hear back from the state next week.
“Anyone who is a registered voter in Grand Island city limits will have a ballot mailed to them,” Overstreet said.
Overstreet said that the cost of the special election will be somewhere between $50,000 and $80,000. It will be the first election with a voter ID-approved envelope. The City of Grand Island is responsible for paying for the cost of the election.
Woodsonia Real Estate of Elkhorn submitted an application to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development for the project. With the formation of the Good Life District, the Nebraska Department of Revenue will reduce the state sales tax rate within the Good Life District from 5.5 percent to 2.75 percent. The state sales tax reduction will go into effect on Oct. 1.
According to a question-and-answer section on the City’s website, the Good Life District is approximately 875 acres in northwest Grand Island, generally including the properties bordering Highway 281 from 13th Street to West Capital Avenue, and the “undeveloped area northeast of North Webb Road and West Capital Avenue extending to and including the existing Veteran’s Athletic Complex.” The Good Life
District does not include the former Nebraska Veterans Home property or the Veterans Club.
Gerald Poels of Grand Island addressed the City Council.
“You know that these special elections are not well-attended,” Poels said. He said he would prefer seeing the matter included in the November general election. “It is a maneuver being done to insure that it passes.”
“We are still going to subsidize a corporation,” Poels said. “You should all recognize it as a scam.”
Former Mayor Jay Vavricek of Grand Island said, “I hope voters will embrace it.” He noted the Grand Island project is one of five that will be approved in the state.
“What a gigantic opportunity to move forward. Let’s move forward in a positive way,” he said.
He noted that people representing the Nebraska State Fair, economic development, and other entities promoting Grand Island were in the audience.
Council member Mitch Nickerson said, “This is really about opportunity. There is not a tax increase. Why would we not want to do this?” He continued, “This is an opportunity for us to do something big for Grand Island.”
Council member Chuck Haase said that the Legislature provided the ground rules for the Good Life District.
“This is a great opportunity for the city of Grand Island,” he said. “I’ve not seen anything like this in my lifetime.” The effects of the Good Life District would be long-lasting, he noted.
Council member Bethany Guzinski said, “I want everyone to go into this with some caution.”
After the motion passed, Mayor Roger Steele said, “I congratulate the City Council.” He noted that the Good Life District does not create any new tax on the city of Grand Island.” He said it was “very generous” of the Nebraska Legislature to pass the legislation.
Steele said the funds can be used for infrastructure such as roads, sewer lines, and water lines.
Steele said that the Good Life District provides “transformational impact for decades to come.”
It was asked to have a draft of the ballot proposition read.
“Shall the City of Grand Island be authorized to establish a good life district economic development program for any area within the City which is included in a good life district established pursuant to the Good Life Transformational Projects Act, and shall the City be authorized to appropriate the local sources of revenue collected within such good life district program area, which may include local option sales and use taxes and occupation taxes, established pursuant to and as permitted by the Good Life District Economic Development Act, provided that the City shall not appropriate property taxes to such program, and shall not appropriate local option sales and use tax or occupation tax sourced from outside the good life district to such program?”
Voters either can vote “for” authorizing the City to establish a good life economic development program and impose and appropriate local sources of revenue to such program or “against” the proposition.
Last week, Kate Ellingson, marketing and public relations director for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, said that Woodsonia is making an estimated $550 million investment in the project, and estimated that 5,000 new jobs would be created.
The Department of Revenue has told the city that 2023 net taxable sales within the approved Grand Island Good Life District was $286,737,879. Based on that information, if the Good Life District existed in 2023, the city could have recaptured 2.75 percent or $7,885,292 from existing retail sales in the recently approved boundaries. A Good Life District exists for 30 years.
According to the city’s website, “based on publicly available information and news reports, the City understands there is development under consideration which will include retail, indoor and outdoor sports and other recreational facilities, office and residential uses, and more within Grand Island’s Good Life District.”
On the website, the question of “what happens if voters don’t approve the program” is addressed.
“If the program is not approved, development in the Good Life District would likely continue, but possibly with scaled down development and lower tax revenues for the City to utilize in the future. In addition, the total tax rate for sales within the Grand Island Good Life District would be 2.75 percent less than the tax rate elsewhere in the City,” according to the website.
“No property taxes are permitted to be levied for the Program, and the City is not permitted to appropriate any property taxes to the Program. Further, the City is not permitted to appropriate any local option sales tax collected outside the Good Life District to the Program.
The Program’s revenues can only come from the sales tax and/or occupation tax collected within the Good Life District.”
The city website addresses the question of whether the Good Life District Program will negatively impact Grand Island Public Schools. “There is nothing in the Good Life District statutes that impacts the school district or school district funding,” the website said.
“The City’s existing 2 percent local option sales tax will remain in effect for the Good Life District, which means any enhanced sales tax revenues will benefit the City’s finances more broadly, in addition to the City’s costs of operating the Program being covered by Program revenues,” the website said.
The Grand Island City Council voted to place Good Life program on ballot, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)