NTF SPEECH TO DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ON JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER

NTF worksheet: douglascounty111.doc. 3-19.
NTF SPEECH TO DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ON JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER: MARCH 26, 2019.

Good morning. Doug Kagan, 416 South 130 Street, representing NE Taxpayers for Freedom. We urge commissioners to alter this resolution pending further discussion about the location of and design of the juvenile detention center. Although public officials and private parties have shown the public several preliminary costs and designs for this facility, we believe that the entire board should hold public town hall meetings to solicit wide public input. These cursory meetings in Room 903 upstairs are not sufficient to attract public input; it still sounds like a plan already decided. Only Commissioner Cavanaugh has sponsored community-wide public meetings. Three years ago, the county board, with our endorsement and our campaigning assistance, passed a $45 million bond issue requiring NO tax increase. Then, we believed that county commissioners were proceeding with true concern for taxpayers. In 2016, there was absolute transparency with active solicitation from the public. Members of our taxpayer group toured the West Maple campus and spoke with county officials often. Now, you are asking county taxpayers for a probable tax hike for construction that would cost more than double the 2016 bond, $114 million in revenue bonds.

In 2016, you offered county voters a choice, to vote yes or no on the bond issue. All we ask now is precisely what you offered taxpayers in 2016. An opportunity to vote next year on locating and funding a juvenile detention center downtown or expanding at 41st & Woolworth Ave. In the meantime, proponents of both sites will have an opportunity to present their alternatives to the voters. Public town hall meetings. Public debates, panel discussions, and forums. Extensive media publicity and coverage. Therefore, we ask you to detach the cost and construction of a juvenile detention center from this resolution pending further public discussion and vote.

Doug Kagan, NE Taxpayers for Freedom

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