Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a long series of stories involving the York County Commissioners’ work toward formulating the budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. They have been working toward cutting $2.6 million from the preliminary budget in order to comply with budget authority regulations.
YORK – The York County Commissioners, as they went through each county fund in a search to save money, eventually focused on the inheritance fund.
From this fund, amounts are given each year to outside agencies that provide specific services for the county.
The commissioners reviewed each organization’s request and discussed whether any increases were warranted as they are trying to trim spending.
York County Commissioner Chairman Daniel Grotz went through the different organizations’ requests, noting CASA asked for $3,000 more than last year, which would be a 7.1% increase. He said the Blue Valley Community Action request was the same as last year, as was the request from Blue Valley Behavioral Health. Hope Crisis Center was asking for an additional $1,500 (an 11.5% increase) and York Adopt A Pet was asking for $500 more than last year (a 10% increase). Henderson was asking for the same amount as last year regarding ambulance services and the Kilgore Library in York was asking for the same allocation as last year. He also noted how the York County Development Corporation (YCDC) was asking for an increase somewhere in the realm of 3-5% and the Southeast Nebraska Development District (SENDD) was asking for the same amount as last year.
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“CASA has a great piece of real estate, with the office we provide for them, for free, in the courthouse,” Commissioner Randy Obermier said. “This is a great office, upstairs, so I’m fine with staying flat with them.”
“And when it comes to Adopt A Pet, their service is statutorily required for us and that’s not a huge request for an increase, especially because we are not in the dog catching business,” Obermier said.
“I’d be fine with all of that, staying flat with the organizations and then giving that small increase to Adopt A Pet,” Grotz responded.
There was some discussion about giving additional money to Region V, as the institution had requested (which would be above what is statutorily required), and Commissioner Deb Robertson asked if federal opioid settlement money (which has already been allocated to the county) could be used to give that additional request to Region V. That matter is being looked into.
“Now to YCDC and SENDD,” Grotz said. “SENDD is flat and we are fine with that. YCDC asked for a 3-5% increase. We were funding YCDC at $80,000 a year and then a few years ago we reduced the contribution some. We are behind the city currently (in the amount provided) but everything in the city is also in the county. I’d be fine with some sort of increase. I’d say stay near the 3% mark because we’ve held others to that level of increase. But as we have said before, if inheritance tax ever goes away in the state of Nebraska, it will be very, very hard for us to give funds to these organizations.”
Commissioner Andy Bowman said he “struggles with any increase for YCDC. Some of my constituents say we should give them zero. Lisa (Hurley) is very good at a lot of things, but the way there is influence on that organization and influence coming from the outside, I don’t like it.” He alleged past influence from the Omaha Public Power District during the solar zoning debate and the use of tax dollars to fund YCDC while the organization supported OPPD’s K-Junction solar project. “I may be the only one that feels this way.”
“I hear you, I hear what you are saying,” Grotz said to Bowman. “Are you thinking their current level of funding is good?”
“I definitely don’t see an increase,” Bowman said. “It’s a lot of money when we don’t see the direction of that organization. It’s not directly helping the citizens of York County, like CASA does or the library. I could live with leaving YCDC’s funding the same.”
Obermier noted “it’s hard for us to know all the details involved in the economic development process.”
“I’ve already shared with them my concerns about the budget and I’m fine with staying at the level YCDC is at now, without an increase, that is fine,” Grotz said.
“And Lisa (Hurley) understands this is inheritance tax money and it’s very volatile right now?” Robertson asked.
“Yes, they do,” Grotz said.
The commissioners continued to talk about the budget as they changed amounts and altered line items.
At the end of the day (a literal business day, as they were in session nearly eight hours), Grotz said to the board, “You want to hear the sad news? We only found $960,000 in savings. It’s sad but it’s not a surprise.”
“Well, we still found a million,” York County Clerk Mary Melby added.
“Yes, but we still need to find another million,” Grotz responded.
“I don’t think we will, so we have to find more revenue,” Obermier added.
“Well, we are on hold right now, we need to see our final valuation,” Grotz said.
“And we need to set the wages so we know where we are at,” Melby noted.
“To me, we have to know the number, of where we are and what we need to get to within our authority to increase over last year,” Obermier said.
Grotz said with another million dollars left to be found or cut, he did not know what they should do with raises for employees.
Robertson suggested operating expenses be cut for departments so increases for salaries and wages could take place in order to keep employees, with the department heads then figuring out ways to run their operations with the reduction in operating expenses.
The matter of wages and salaries will be undertaken once again when the county board holds its next meeting.
