Governor, senators field questions at legislative forum

WAYNE — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Sen. Joni Albrecht and Sen. Lydia Brasch all fielded questions from audience members at the Wayne Legislative Forum here at Gardner Hall on the campus of Wayne State College Friday morning.

The trio fielded questions on a myriad of topics during the 90-minute forum, including property taxes, discrimination protection for LGBT workers, funding for Haven House and women in politics

“I think this is an awesome forum,” Ricketts said. “It’s been going on for 26 years that Wayne State has been hosting. It’s a great tradition. It gives people an opportunity to come in and talk to their elected officials — the senators, myself as Governor — and then ask questions about the important issues. We talked about a variety of things from health and human services to property taxes and budget, so it really was a great forum.”

As has been often the case in recent times, taxes were foremost on the minds of many Friday.

“The only way to have sustainable tax relief is by controlling spending,” Ricketts said. “That’s what we have to do in this budget — we have to control our spending. Our revenues are coming in below forecast. I gave a proposal to the appropriations committee that would allow us to control our spending, meet the needs of people who are looking for our services and deliver those essential services, get back into structural balance and do all that without raising taxes.”

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