Gov. Ricketts visits Sidney

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts stopped into Sidney on Friday morning to deliver a brief speech and then take questions from residents.

The visit was a part of Ricketts' annual state of the state fly around. Over Thursday and Friday, he held 12 events in 11 locations. The tour began in Lincoln with his State of the State address on Thursday morning.

The Sidney event was held at the Lloyd W. Carr Airport. About 50-75 residents attended the speech, including local government leaders.

During the speech, Ricketts described his priorities for the new legislative session.

"How do we make government work for people, because that's key for us in state government to do, because we provide so many important services," he said.

Addressing high property taxes, economic reform and holding state departments accountable – while staying within the budget – are keys to ensuring Nebraska continues to be successful, he said.

"The No. 1 issue as I travel the state and talk with people like you has been property taxes," he said. "Now last year, we made great strides along that line. We cut the growth of government nearly in half, from 6.5 percent in the last budget to 3.5 percent in this current budget."

The only way to get sustainable tax relief is by slowing the growth of government and controlling spending, Ricketts explained.

Last year, funding for the property tax credit relief fund was increased, he added.

"We took it up by over 45 percent," he said. "And so in this budget, we will deliver $408 million in direct dollar-for-dollar property tax relief from the state of Nebraska to all property owners in Nebraska."

The governor also lauded Nebraska and Nebraskans.

"I'm excited about our future," he said.

The state has the second lowest unemployment rate in the county and is one of the top-10 healthiest states and one of the top states for volunteerism, he remarked.

"We have the best asset in the world right here in Nebraska, and that's our people," Ricketts said. "And we have to put together the plans to make sure we can continue to grow our state, to have the best place in the world to live, work and raise a family."

Following the speech, Ricketts took questions from the audience.

Cheyenne County resident Bernard Fehringer told Ricketts this region is facing tremendous law enforcement costs because of its proximity to Colorado, which has legalized recreational marijuana. Additionally, the county urgently needs a new jail, he said.

If current jail standards were applied to the present jail, it would have a maximum capacity of six, he said.

"Some of these issues, we need state aid to help out local counties," Fehringer said, "otherwise the whole burden is going to fall on people who happen to be here by virtue of geographic location."

Ricketts said Colorado's decision to legalize marijuana has affected Nebraska.

"Which is why we're suing it," he said. "Unfortunately, the federal government and attorney general are just not enforcing the laws of our country on Colorado."

He also encouraged Fehringer to work with his state senator about specific ideas of how the state could be helpful in regard to law enforcement issues.

"I know the whole marijuana thing has been a huge challenge for us here in the state," the governor said, "and especially here in Cheyenne County."