PIERCE — The old adage says, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.
That’s precisely what’s happening in Pierce as citizens and business leaders interested in stronger economic development opportunities in the community try once again to get voters to approve an LB 840 economic plan.
LB 840 — the Local Option Municipal Economic Development Act — is an economic development tool that authorizes incorporated cities and villages in Nebraska, if approved by local voters, to collect and appropriate local tax dollars for economic development purposes.
To implement an LB 840 program, communities formulate a written economic development plan that — if approved by voters — becomes the foundation for the collection and expenditure of local tax revenues for economic development under which the municipality’s LB 840 program operates.
“LB 840, at the core, is you can capture your sales tax from your community and use it for economic development,” said Susan Norris, who serves as the director of economic development in Pierce County.
Pierce has tried in the past to get LB 840 passed by voters, once several years ago and again in 2022, when two issues appeared on the ballot related to the program. The first issue allowed the municipality to establish the program. The second allowed the city to impose an additional half-percent sales and use taxes to fund the program.
“We missed it by 66 votes,” Norris said. “We were so close.”
Norris said members of the Pierce Advancement Committee were dedicated and put in a lot of work to get the community educated on how the program would be a benefit to Pierce. They used examples from Plainview and Hartington, as well as Holt County, which had two communities implement LB 840 and see success.
“We had a town hall meeting, and we presented LB 840 reports from surrounding communities like Neligh. Hartington came in and gave a presentation. Plainview had a presentation. We talked about the strategy, the goal of the program. We talked about where it’s divided and where it goes,” Norris said.
Plainview, for example, implemented LB 840 in 2014 after voters approved a half-percent sales tax increase. Plainview Economic Development received a third of those funds, which resulted in $376,000 being collected between 2014 and 2022.
Among its benefits, those funds have been used for grant matches. Plainview utilized $25,000 in LB 840 funds to receive an $80,000 Rural Business Development Grant, which created a $105,000 revolving loan fund for new and existing businesses. It also utilized $100,000 in LB 840 funds to receive $400,000 from the USDA Intermediary Relending Program.
The outcome set up Plainview to manage a $605,000 revolving loan fund for new and existing businesses, allowing LB 840 funds to be used for other projects. In all, $213,000 in LB 840 funds in Plainview have been utilized for grant match. The total grant funding received is $1,141,000, Norris said.
Norris added that Plainview also was able to use LB 840 funds to receive grants for new housing construction, something sorely needed in the Pierce community.
“It really did change the game when we got those revolving loan funds,” Norris said. “That’s absolutely something the city of Pierce can do.”
Norris said she didn’t live in the area the first time Pierce tried to pass LB 840, and she could only theorize why it failed to pass in 2022. Part of the problem could’ve been the supply chain issues, outrageous inflation and the poor economy, which stemmed from the uncertainty of coming out of the pandemic. Part of it, she said, could’ve been a message bleeding in from some in the Norfolk community.
“We were running side by side with Norfolk. We didn’t know if that hurt us. They were trying to reinstate the program, and there was a lot of negativity. We were wondering if that bled into it,” Norris said. “Even though you live in Pierce, you’re hearing a very vocal group in Norfolk being negative about LB 840 and what it’s used for.”
Norris added that she didn’t understand the negativity in Norfolk regarding its efforts to reinstate LB 840: “I thought it was ridiculous because more than half of Norfolk’s LB 840 comes from the surrounding communities. If I had four counties helping me with mine, why would you ever let it go? Norfolk has done great things with LB 840, and I don’t think the average citizen understands the real benefit of the program or how you can change your local landscape.”
She’s hoping the message about the positive benefits of LB 840 will make it through to Pierce voters as the issue returns to the ballot this election. Norris said getting people to understand the greater control a community will have over its own future with LB 840 is a key.
“There really isn’t a negative — I don’t think — to LB 840. You’re going to spend money anyway. It’s a sales tax to help the community capture that and redirect it back into the community. The reality is nobody is coming to save us, so we have to save ourselves,” Norris said. “This is a financial tool the state Legislature has given us to do that. You can go and look at every community that has had it and look at their success stories. There hasn’t been one community that I know of that hasn’t benefited from having LB 840 in place.”