In The News

Sen. Chris Beutler proposed Monday that the city help narrow its massive street funding gap by diverting a portion of the sales tax generated in new developments to street construction.

The other candidate to be Lincoln’s next mayor, Democratic Sen. Chris Beutler, agreed holding the money hostage would be a “negative approach.”

“I don’t think that’s the way to go,” he said. “I think you need to deal positively with the Legislature and with the two fair boards and simply emphasize how there is a possibility here for a win-win situation. The university could get the grounds and State Fair could be better than it ever was.”

Beutler recently notified the city he will terminate his consulting contract Jan. 2.

Since he was hired by former Mayor Don Wesely in 2000, Beutler has had an annual contract to raise funds for the Parks & Recreation Department.

The Community Health Endowment of Lincoln will award about $1 million in grants this year to various local organizations to improve the health of our community. What if we could make that $2 million, or even more, each year? And what if we could do that without raising taxes and without asking for donations?

Sen. Chris Beutler of Lincoln said that if the spending lid forces the Legislature to cut state aid to schools and local governments, property taxes might go up if those entities cannot make enough cuts.