NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, January 4, 2006 6:00 pm
Everyone who uses water would have to pay a little extra to help solve the state’s water problems, but irrigators would pay the most under a plan offered by Sen. Chris Beutler of Lincoln.
The money is intended to help resolve problems in drought-plagued areas, particularly the Platte and Republican river basins, where some farmers are already being asked to use less water and some may have to stop irrigating altogether in the future.
Money from the fees would pay for water-related research and programs that pay farmers not to irrigate.
Who should pay has become a contentious issue as the problems and the dollar amounts grow.
Beutler’s plan (LB930) would force irrigators to pay 95 percent of costs. But many irrigators believe the state should help solve water problems with revenue from the state income and sales tax, the bulk of which comes from urban areas.
“I don’t think the people in Lincoln and Omaha, the people in the cities of Nebraska, should be paying sales and income tax dollars to pay irrigators not to irrigate,” Beutler said.
“If there is going to be some public financing of this, then a big part should be from water fees based on usage, Beutler said.
But Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek said farmers are already over taxed and shouldn’t be burdened with another fee.
Beutler’s plan may look fair on the surface, he said, but the whole tax system should be looked at.
Nebraska farmers are already paying “almost punitive” taxes. In fact, Nebraska is the only state in the region that taxes its corn to help fund ethanol plant incentives, Schrock said.
Schrock said he would consider the fee if Beutler helps reduce agriculture’s tax burden. “Otherwise, “I am vehemently opposed to it.
“Farmers don’t need a bigger tax burden. We are pulling more than our fair share now,” Schrock said.
A 50-member water policy task force is recommending the state use sales and income tax to help resolve water problems, specifically that the Legislature set aside at least $5.5 million for research and other programs for next year.
That task force has also recommended that state leaders explore the idea of a constitutional amendment to earmark state sales tax — perhaps a quarter-cent, raising an estimated $42 million per year, for water and environmental issues.
It also recommends the state raise natural resources districts’ taxing authority limit from 5.5 cents to 8.5 cents to help pay for regulation and research.
Beutler introduced his fee plan Thursday without any numbers. He said he should have specific figures for the public hearing in several weeks.
The idea that people should be paid not to irrigate is a new concept that has gained some acceptance, said Beutler. People who irrigate from surface water — rivers and streams — have always known that in drought years the newest irrigators would be shut off. And no one would be compensated, he noted.
State law on surface water — first in time, first in right — favors those with old water rights. But Nebraskans began to mine ground water in the 1970s, using a new right system that everyone shares equally, he said.
But instead of equally sharing the pain, “all of a sudden they want people to pay them not to irrigate,” Beutler said.
“That is a radical thought.”
But Jay Rempe with the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation said his group believes everyone benefits from the use of water for irrigation — and everyone should pay for it.
Reach Nancy Hicks at nhicks@journalstar.com or 473-7250. Read Nancy's thoughts on the 2006 session of the Legislature at Around the Rotunda, a staff Weblog.