North Platte Public Schools could ask property owners for as much as $37.9 million in 2026-27, a 20% increase, under budget scenarios presented Thursday at a work session for the board and administrators.
Administrators urged the board to increase property tax collections to rebuild cash reserves and avoid cuts to staff and programs.
The district currently levies $31.46 million in total property taxes. Under the highest of six options that were presented, it would levy $37.9 million, about $6.44 million more.
“The thing about it is, for North Platte, we don’t have to do it,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Virginia Moon said of making cuts to personnel and programs. “We do have to ask for more taxes.”
Associate Superintendent Damon McDonald presented the six scenarios, ranging from the district’s base of 3.5% allowable growth in taxes to an additional 5%, if a super-majority of the board approves the higher amount.
State aid is expected to drop from $9.12 million to $7.6 million, a near $1.52 million reduction.
Under the 3.5% option, the district would levy about $1 million more than currently.
McDonald warned that scenario could require $3-4 million in budget reductions within a year or two, if the district were to stop relying on interfund borrowing and lines of credit/borrowed money for 2-3 months per year, as they did this year.
Other scenarios call for progressively larger tax requests: Scenario A – $34.11 million; B – $34.62 million; C – $35.12 million; D – $35.63 million; E – $36.13 million; and F – $37.9 million.
McDonald described Scenario B as “zero-based” or “treading water” option. He said additional property tax revenue would largely replace lost state aid and lower federal receipts and cover higher costs for personnel, negotiated salaries and benefits. Higher scenarios would go further to rebuild cash reserves, reduce reliance on borrowing, and set aside money for future facility needs.
Even under Scenario B, McDonald said the district could need to make another $2-2.5 million in reductions over the next several years.
Moon said a $1.6 million reduction in revenue is roughly equivalent to 16 certified positions, once salary, insurance, and other employment costs are included. Budget cuts could mean larger class sizes, or leaving positions vacant through attrition, or reducing programs such as advanced courses, auto mechanics, speech, and drama.
“You can’t shut off the lights enough to do it,” Moon said.
Higher scenarios, however, would also provide for more facilities. The Scenario B budget sheet allocates $500,000 for facility acquisition and construction, increasing to $3.75 million under Scenario F. Scenarios A-F also include a $350,000 building-fund tax request.
Moon pointed to aging roofs, HVAC equipment, and other needs, including air-handling equipment at the high school that she said could eventually cost about $4 million.
Not all board members were ready to accept higher taxes without more scrutiny of district spending. President Emily Garrick said she has fought long and hard with my thoughts and emotions on this. She said when the district started borrowing money to meet payroll, it should have been a warning much earlier.
“We got here by spending more money than we should have been spending,” Garrick said. “I like fixing problems… I don’t feel like it’s the taxpayer’s responsibility to fix this problem overnight. I really struggle with that.”
She pointed to more than $2 million in credit-card purchases last year, approximately $162,000 through Amazon, at least $85,000 in hotel expenses, plus a $400,000 year-end transfer for athletics and activities. She said those areas of spending should be reviewed more closely.
Director of Teaching and Learning Jami Allen said that Amazon is used for classroom and building supplies and the hotel expenses include professional development. Special Education Director Erica Johnson said the scrutiny of purchases has increased.
“I don’t know that I feel like I can look a taxpayer in the eye and say that we have done our best work to rein in the spending, and I have to be able to say that before I can increase taxes,” Garrick said. “We are going to start taxing people out of their homes. I don’t know what the future of this community looks like if we cannot keep it an affordable place to live. Yes, we need to be a destination school district, but we also need to be a destination community.”
Board member Mitch Wagner also questioned relying primarily on additional property taxes, saying a private business cannot simply “reach into somebody else’s pocket” when it is struggling. He said the eventual solution would likely require both additional revenue and reductions. He asked if longer-term changes such as school consolidation should be considered.
Board member Cindy O’Connor cautioned that a school district cannot be compared directly with a private business.
“The school district, it’s a business, but it’s not a business,” O’Connor said. “We’re not going to a retail store. We don’t bring in money.”
Board member Skip Altig, a former teacher, warned that staffing reductions can drive teachers away, increase class sizes, and eliminate activities that keep some students engaged in school.
Board member JoAnn Lundgreen shared Altig’s concerns and cautioned against staffing cuts or building consolidation before the district understands future enrollment, pointing to continued housing development in North Platte.
Board member Angela Blaesi focused on transparency and communication, saying the Committee of the Whole discussions have provided board members with more information about district spending and efforts to control costs.
“Since I’ve been on the board, this is the most open we’ve been,” Blaesi said.
The board approved a resolution Thursday allowing up to an additional 5% in property-tax authority, raising the maximum to approximately $37.96 million. Garrick cast the only no vote on the resolution.
The resolution does not establish the district’s final tax request, but scenario F, $37.9 million, will be presented at the Sept. 17 joint public hearing, commonly known as the “pink postcard” hearing.
Garrick volunteered to represent the district at the hearing but emphasized that doing so should not be interpreted as support for the highest scenario.
The board could lower the request before final adoption. The district must adopt its final budget and property-tax request before Sept. 30.
The board meeting lasted more than three hours. To see video, click Here and scroll to August 2026 Committee of the Whole. The budget discussion starts around 1 hour and 35 minutes. The board discussion starts around 1:43.
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Answer is “NO”.
Your irresponsible handling of your past funds does not warrant any increase.
Start cutting salaries, jobs, and unnecessary spending.
Quit going to the taxpayers for more. Enough is enough.
I grew up here. Family is still here. I’m not coming after teachers. I’m coming after a tax hike I don’t support and I never will.
I don’t believe in higher taxes. Not this year. Not to get through it. Not because somebody up front says there’s no other way. If you can’t run on what you’re already taking, the next pile won’t fix it either. That’s the whole thing.
Look at the kids first, because that’s what they keep hiding behind.
This place had around 4300 students ten years ago. 4117 before COVID. Then it just bled. 3919. 3834. 3782. 3756. State count now is 3673. Last August they were at 3468 when school started. Elementary used to have over 2000 kids. It’s about 1500 now. Staff already told this board the elementary buildings have room for hundreds more. You graduate more than you bring in. That’s not a district bursting at the seams. That’s a smaller district asking for more money.
Yeah, state aid dropped. 9.78 million down to 7.6 million. Fourth year in a row. That’s a million and a half. I’m not pretending Lincoln did you a favor. I’m also not pretending a 1.5 million hit requires a 6.4 million tax increase. The rest of that’s on you.
You’ve been borrowing and shifting money between funds two, three months a year just to make payroll. That’s not bad luck. That’s spending past the cash. You already set up a fat line of credit for it. Emily Garrick said it straight. We got here by spending more than we should’ve been spending. She also said she can’t look a taxpayer in the eye and claim you’ve tightened this thing up. She’s the board president. Believe her.
While you were short you ran over 2 million on credit cards. About 162000 on Amazon. Eighty five thousand in hotels. Four hundred thousand dumped into athletics at the end of the year. Business office is sitting around 4 million in the book. Board line’s about a million. You hired an interim superintendent for 200000 for one year. Moon says 1.6 million is about 16 certified jobs. So when they say you can’t cut the lights enough, what they mean is they don’t want to cut the stuff that isn’t a classroom.
Their own treading water option already backfills the aid and the raises. They still say you’ll need another couple million in cuts later. Scenario F isn’t treading water. That’s rebuild the bank account, quit using the credit line, and set aside 3.75 million for buildings while you’ve got empty elementary rooms. Roofs leak. HVAC dies. Fine. Don’t tax people for new building money before you’ve proven the day to day budget isn’t sloppy.
City’s trying to cut its levy again. Eighth year. Same town. Same people paying both bills. School district wants to go from 31.46 million to almost 38 million and they put the high number on the postcard on purpose so everybody argues down from the ceiling.
A business that lost that many customers, borrowed to make payroll, and then sent the town a bill for 6.4 million would be done. You can say a school isn’t a business. You still live in this town. You price people out of their houses and you don’t get a destination district. You get fewer people and a higher bill.
Skip Altig. Taught speech and drama here 36 years, retired, got on the board in 2015, and he’s been the same vote ever since. Runs unopposed half the time. His own board censured him last summer. When they could’ve put a businessman in an open seat he voted no because schools aren’t a business. Then Thursday he does the speech about don’t cut staff, don’t touch activities, kids will leave.
Okay. Then cut the cards, the hotels, the Amazon, the athletics transfer, and the 200000 interim before you start waving speech and auto shop around like a hostage. Those are his programs. Of course he doesn’t want them touched. He’s been here 11 years on the board after 36 in the building. He’s not some independent referee. He’s protecting the shop.
I want a cut list that hits travel and central office first. I want to see the actual cash by month for three years so we can tell if this borrowing story is real or you just spent it. I want a straight number on how much empty space you’ve got in those elementary buildings. And I don’t want Scenario F. Replace the aid if you have to. Don’t use a state aid drop as cover for a 17 percent tax grab.
One more thing before you vote any of this.
Garrick already asked where the money went. Two million on cards. 162000 on Amazon. 85000 in hotels. Four hundred thousand to athletics. You got classroom supplies and professional development. That is not a ledger. Before you take another dollar, put the last two years of card statements online. Who has a card. What they bought. Who signed off. Same for the Amazon account. If it’s pencils, show the pencils. If it’s hotels, show the conference and who went.
Same with the people walking out. Don’t tell us cuts will drive teachers away when staff already stood at this mic and said good people are leaving and it isn’t normal. Your superintendent quit. You still added staff this summer, including administrators. Publish the last three years of resignations and retirements by building and by job. Not names of kids. Names of positions. If the problem is pay, say pay. If the problem is the board, say that. Don’t use mystery turnover as a reason to raise taxes.
The board is accountable. You vote the levy. Moon and McDonald build the book. If those records aren’t public before the September 17 hearing, you are asking this town to pay first and trust you later. I’m not doing that. No higher tax until the cards and the exits are on paper.
I won’t vote for higher taxes. I won’t pretend this is the only option. You’ve got fewer kids, empty rooms, a credit line, and a board president who already admitted the spending problem. Deal with that. Don’t come to this town and tell us we have to pay for it.
Sorry NPPS;
Best we can do is funnel tax money to private enterprise that will be used to put more demand on your school systems without additional tax basis.
Sincerely
-Your elected officials.
I think it is high time that the NPPS learn a little fiscal responsibility. The taxpayers are already tapped out.Learn to live within a budget like the rest of us have to!
Keep paying the administration like the district has excess funds and those same people will spend somebody else’s money like they have endless funds. The proccess of choosing how we pay our administrators needs to be changed.. Grand Island, Kearney and Hastings pays X amount of dollars, so North Platte needs to pay X plus to attract the best candidate. I’ve always believed we could get just as good for slightly less than the other cities and then that in turn would lower the threshold of pay for the other cities..
“The district currently levies $31.46 million in total property taxes. Under the highest of six options that were presented, it would levy $37.9 million, about $6.44 million more.”
That is a 20.47% increase and not a 17 % increase.
You’re correct, Steve.
Retired, on a fixed income. But, it’s only money, we’ll get more.