City of Hastings Avoids Pink Postcard Meeting

The City of Hastings will not have to attend the planned Joint Public Hearing after members of the Hastings City Council reduced the city’s tax asking amount and therefore the city’s property tax levy. The Joint Public Hearing, also known as the pink postcard meeting, is scheduled for Sept. 17 at the Hastings High School Auditorium Council members voted 6-2 during their regular meeting on Sept. 8 to decrease the tax asking by $360,521 from the planned $9,055,597 to $8,695,076, which will lower the levy to .379091 per $100 valuation from the planned rate of .394809, which is also the city’s current rate. A .394809 levy on a $200,000 house would be $789.60 in annual property taxes to the City of Hastings. A .379091 levy on a $200,000 house would be $758.20. 

The reduction in the levy decreases the city portion of property tax on an average home in Hastings by $31.40 per year or $2.62 per month. The change represents a decrease in the tax asking percentage from a 7.21% increase to match the valuation increase to a 2.95% increase. A 2.95% increase is the maximum amount allowable to avoid the Joint Public Hearing. LB 644, the legislative bill passed in 2021, mandates a joint public hearing for participating local political subdivisions to discuss property tax request increases exceeding an allowable growth percentage. The allowable growth percentage is 2% plus growth. Growth has been determined this year to be .95%