NEBRASKA CITY – The first Otoe County candidate  to file for local office in the 2020 election  is leaving no doubt about his intentions.

Craig Bolz, a 65-year-old Republican who farms near Palmyra and still lives in a house he bought when he was 19,  filed moments after the election clerk’s office opened on Dec. 3. Bolz says he is trying to help Nebraska taxpayers defeat the monster that taxes pose for family farms and landowners across the state.

His interest in politics piqued when his daughter, Kate Bolz, was elected to the state Legislature and said family division only widened when his daughter sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House.

Bolz: “I wouldn’t say exactly I’m a Republican or Democrat, but I’m a massive conservative. The most conservative you are ever going to meet. I don’t’ want people wasting my tax money and I don’t’ want to waste their money.”

Bolz: “If you control local spending and maybe even decrease the budget and the valuations keep going up, your taxes will go down.”

He said he does not like the family tensions linked to politics, but he likes even less the stress caused by  wasteful government spending.

 

  by Dan Swanson

Bolz: “The property tax problem in the State of Nebraska is the direct result of all local board spending. The biggest problem is the school boards, obviously the most massive waste is there, but all boards are at the root of this. The way to get local property tax relief is to control local spending.”

 

Bolz: “It’s all about spending. It’s about local spending, whether it’s the fire department, whether it’s the hospital board, whether it’s the county commissioners, whether it’s the school board, you’ve got to stop spending taxpayers’ money.”

 

Bolz has twice failed in election bids for the local school board. He said he could not overcome the insistence by school administration and others to have only “bobble heads” serve on school boards.

In an Associated Press article published this spring, Bolz said tax bills on farmers are becoming unworkable and said taxes are already putting Nebraska producers at a disadvantage with farmers in neighboring states.

Bolz: “You can either sit on the sideline, kick the dirt and complain about it, like 90 percent of the people do, or you can get involved. That’s why I’m running for county board, to eliminate every bit of waste we can.”

Bolz said tax relief for Nebraskans is stalled in state government where there is talk about a division between urban and rural interests.

Bolz: “That’s all they ever want to talk about and it shouldn’t be that way. It shouldn’t be urban versus rural. It should be all of us in the same boat together because when they talk about property tax relief, it’s for everyone. It’s not just for the farmers.”

He said the only way to control government spending is to make it so the money is not available to government.

Bolz: “For the past 40 years, the senators at the state of Nebraska have just grabbed the farmers by the throat, slammed them up against a wall and said shut up and pay your taxes because you are only 2 percent of the people.”

 Bolz has filed for the seat currently held by Dean Speth of Unadilla. Seth said he is leaning against  filing for re-election, but said he will not make a final decision until the filing deadline on March 2.

Also filing for re-election was James Parsons of the Fourth District.