Petition sponsor responds to ruling

 By DIANE WETZEL
Published: Saturday, May 8, 2010 4:09 AM CDT
The North Platte Telegraph

A sponsor of the petition that made its way onto the May 11 primary ballot said he was disappointed in a judge's recent ruling striking down that referendum initiative. The initiative would have changed the financing of the Golden Spike Tower and Visitors Center, requiring that occupation tax revenues would be used only to repay a loan that built the project, not for any operating costs. In a decision issued on May 3, Lincoln County District Judge John P. Murphy ruled that the County Clerk's office may not consider any votes on the issue.

Ed Rieker, treasurer of the Western Nebraska Taxpayers Association, along with WNTA members Dallas Dye and Bill Tilgner, sponsored the petition. The WNTA was not, Rieker pointed out, named in the city's lawsuit against the three men after the initiative was out on the ballot.

"The WNTA's sole mission is to make sure our tax dollars are being spent wisely," Rieker said. "I personally challenged the Spike and the way the funds are being sequestered and spent because as a citizen, I don't have any idea how that money is being spent."

Currently the Spike receives 100 percent of occupation tax revenues, the money generated by use of hotel/motel rooms. The petition asked that any funds not required to repay the loan be returned to the city's general fund.

Once it was determined that the petition initiative had garnered enough signatures to be placed on the May 11 ballot, the City of North Platte sued Rieker, Dye and Tilgner, claiming that the initiative would interfere with contractual obligations involved in the USDA loan that helped finance the Spike project. Murphy agreed, saying the initiative violates state law; he said that statutes say measures needed to carry out contract obligations are not subject to referendum.

"We were disappointed in the way the judge ruled," Rieker said. "We are looking at what options we have available at this stage of the game."

Rieker said he encourages people to go ahead and vote on the initiative Tuesday.

"Ultimately, the will of the people will have to be taken into consideration," Rieker said.

Occupation taxes are public funds, Rieker said, regardless of who pays them - residents or visitors to the community.

"Our government gives us the right as citizens to determine how public dollars are spent through our elected officials," Rieker said. "In this situation [the Golden Spike] the public never had that opportunity."

In a countersuit, Rieker, Dye and Tilgner claimed through their attorney, George Clough, that the city's ordinance that allocates occupation taxes to the Golden Spike is illegal. It was an economic development project, they argued, and as such, the public should have had an opportunity to vote on it. Murphy conceded that under the state constitution industrial and economic issues are to be submitted to the voters before being adopted.

"Should the city have submitted the Golden Spike to the voters as economic development?" Murphy wrote in his decision. "Maybe."

However, Murphy cited insufficient evidence and the court's limited scope as the reasons why he could not grant an injunction against using occupation tax revenues to fund the Golden Spike.

"There may be a separate action brought by the defendants if they wish," Murphy wrote.

Reached for comment, attorney Clough declined to comment on Murphy's decision and on the possibility of any further legal action.

"Look, the Spike is here now and we certainly don't want it to fail," Rieker said. "All we want is the opportunity for the public to see how those public funds are being used."

According to Golden Spike executive director JoAnne Hoatson, repayment of the USDA loan began in March 2009.

"We have made every payment, both principal and interest on time and in full," Hoatson said.

Click on this story at nptelegraph.com to post your comments, or e-mail diane. wetzel@nptelegraph.com.



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