NE: City budget hearing draws pleas for money to increase Lincoln bus services

Several citizens urged the City Council on Monday to find money to add to the upcoming city budget to improve StarTran services.

“I am grateful to the mayor for giving StarTran more funds but it isn’t enough,” said Richard Schmeling, president of Citizens for Improved Transit. “We have a stagnant bus system. ... We can’t grow the system. We can’t improve the system and it’s been that way for the past three years.”

The council held a public hearing on $4.35 million the mayor proposed adding to the 2025-26 budget, the second year of the biennial budget. Those changes included $1 million to StarTran to close a budget gap in the current year, but not to increase service.

Schmeling said he’d like to see the city find another $1 million so StarTran can extend service to evenings on all routes, offer bus service on Sunday and add crosstown bus routes.

“We just simply need to find a way for those things to happen,” he said.

Schmeling submitted letters from Community Action Partnership, the People’s City Mission, the American Job Center and St. Monica’s, all of which said increased bus service for their clients was needed.

“Public transit remains a critical lifeline for many working in our community ensuring they can access employment opportunities," wrote Dylan Wren, workforce administrator for the American Job Center.

Several other people testified in support of increased funding for the city’s public transportation, saying Lincoln spends considerably less on public transportation than other cities its size.

Marilyn Kruger, a retired StarTran bus driver who said the city was expanding services before the pandemic and it’s important to renew that commitment.

Gary Nelson had a different perspective. He said between increases in property taxes, insurance and tax-increment financing taking property off the tax rolls for development projects it’s impossible for young people or low-income residents to get started and buy a home.

Increases in fees for various city services also add up, he said, while both the federal and state governments have offered some tax breaks.

“When is the City Council and Lincoln going to give its people a tax break? You do not have to take every penny available to you and spend it,” he said.

The changes proposed by the mayor represent a 1.4% increase to the budget, bringing the total tax-funded budget to $301 million. That extra money will come from larger-than-expected sales tax and property tax revenue.

The proposed additions Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird wants to make include:

*$936,000 to the police and fire pension, based on an updated actuarial analysis, which will be on top of the $2.6 million it added in year one and $703,000 it anticipated adding in year two;

*$764,940 in debt payment for the $13.9 million stormwater bond voters approved in November that has a separate tax levy;

*$150,000 in pay raise incentives for 911 dispatchers approved by the City Council earlier this year. City officials said they were down 15 dispatchers at one point;

$1 million to StarTran to make up a funding gap in this year’s budget caused by a combination of overtime costs and a loss of federal funding the city had included in its budget. Jon Carlson, deputy chief of staff for the mayor, said the city will no longer budget for that particular stream of federal funding because it hasn't come through for two years.

$1.5 million for pool maintenance and a repair contingency fund for higher costs because of the age of the pools, many of which are more than 60 years old.

Carlson said the city assumed an 8% increase in property valuations when it built the budget and if, as it appears, property valuations rise 9%, the city would bring in an extra $1 million in revenue based on the current tax levy.

There was also a bump in sales tax revenue Carlson said likely happened because people were worried about increases from tariffs and went out and bought items before they went into effect. Some of the additional $6 million to $8 million the city anticipates getting will pay for the remaining increase.

The changes won’t require an increase in the overall tax rate, which is 29.533 cents per $100 of valuation. That means the owner of a $311,267 home would pay $919.26 to support city services.

The city will vote on the budget Aug. 25.