Property Tax Explained

Property tax is based on assessed value and tax levies. Almost without exception, a property owner's tax bill includes several taxing districts such as school districts, fire districts, villages and City of Sidney, City Airport Authority, Historical Society, Educational Service Unit 13, WNCC, South Platte Natural Resources District, etc.

In Cheyenne County, a property owner's taxes supports 18 taxing districts. Not all districts apply to every tax payer. It depends on where the property is located.

In Cheyenne County, the largest percentage of a tax bill is attributable to the various school districts (Sidney District No.1, Leyton, Potter-Dix and Creek Valley), followed by the City of Sidney, Villages and Cheyenne County.

The levies are determined by the governing board of each taxing authority based on the tax dollars needed to fund the entity. The valuation for each taxing entity is determined by the assessed value of property located in the taxing district.

As an example, the levy for Cheyenne County for the 2021-2022 fiscal year is .406647 based on $100 of valuation. If your house is valued at $122,000, the county levy of .406647 would equate to $496. Likewise, if the same property was in the City of Sidney, the City tax would be $715. Each taxing district requests funds based on the district’s individual levy.

For the fiscal year 2021-2022, the County levy was 0.406647; the City of Sidney was 0.586370; Sidney Schools 1.238219; Leyton Schools 0.899135; Potter-Dix Schools 0.828283; Creek Valley Schools 0.805678; Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC) 0.101653; Educational Service Unit (ESU) .015488; Village of Dalton 0.425001; Village of Gurley, 0.378642; Village of Lodgepole 0.449997; Village of Potter 0.449997; County Fire Districts 0.142624; Historical Society 0.001430; Airport Authority 0.045212; South Platte Natural Resource District (SPNRD) 0.050360; Sanitary Improvement District .040000 and Potter Cemetery 0.004589.

A joint public hearing for the Leyton School District and Cheyenne County is scheduled for 6 P.M., September. 26th at the Cheyenne County Commissioners meeting room.

A representative from the Leyton School District and the County will be present to answer questions regarding the individual budgets. The meeting is required by LB644 which reads “if the annual assessment of property would result in an increase in the total property taxes levied by a county, city, school district for Community College using the previous year's levy, such political subdivision's property tax request for the current year shall be no more than its property tax request in the prior year.”