FALLS CITY – Gov. Pete Ricketts and State Sen. Julie Slama told a packed house at the Elks Lodge in Falls City Tuesday that controlling government spending is key to sustainable tax relief of any kind.

Ricketts said there are four pillars of his administration’s grow Nebraska strategy, including great-paying jobs, promoting the state, efficient government and spending controls.

Ricketts: “The only way you can have sustainable tax relief, the only way to do it, is by controlling spending. There is no silver bullet. You’ve got to control spending.”

He proposes bringing a constitutional limit on government growth before voters in 2020 and supports LB103, which requires local boards to hold a public hearing and take a proactive vote when their tax asking goes up.

Ricketts: “What does this really address? Well, one of the things that has happened in the past, especially with ag land, is we’ve seen valuations go up, but levies not come down to offset how much the valuations go up.”

Ricketts said increases in state aid to schools has not resulted in property tax relief, but allowed for more school spending.

Ricketts said he has been working with the state Legislature to move away from the idea of raising taxes elsewhere in the name of property tax relief.

State Sen. Julie Slama says her goal as a state lawmaker is building a brighter future for district 1.

Slama: “My top priority in getting that done is achieving meaningful, long-term property tax relief.”

Slama said Nebraska is consistently ranked as one of the worst states for taxpayers in the country.

Slama: “Even if you were shifting money around, that tax burden per capita doesn’t change. At the root of every taxation problem is a spending problem and we have to address that spending.”

Slama said the state aid to schools formula needs to establish a base foundation because too many school districts in rural areas do not receive any state aid.

Slama: “I think that foundation aid is critical in being fair to our local property tax payers and being fair to our rural schools and the opportunities they can provide our kids because we are seeing a real dis-equity right now in the amount of aid that is given to our urban kids versus our rural kids. The rural kids’ education is riding on the backs of our local property tax payers in its entirety.”

Gov. Ricketts and Sen. Slama fielded questions about medical marijuana, business incentives, nursing home administration and electrical infrastructure in Richardson County.