December 23, 2015

Gov. Pete Ricketts

Gov. Pete Ricketts says he is looking at more than just property tax relief in the upcoming legislative session.

Priority number one, as expressed many times by the governor, is property tax relief. He follows that closely with income tax relief, which he says is unlikely to go anywhere in the upcoming, short 60-day legislative session.

But, Ricketts says he wants the Unicameral to consider transportation next session as well.

“Having a 21st Century road infrastructure is going to be key as well,” Ricketts tells Kevin Thomas, host of Drive Time Lincoln on Nebraska Radio Network affiliate KLIN. “We hired Kyle Schneweis to be the new director for our department of roads and he is looking at how we can be creative with regard to financing roads, building roads.”

Schneweis comes to Nebraska from the private sector, where he worked as a partner at High Street Consulting Group. Schneweis worked for the Kansas Department of Transportation from 1999 to 2010.

Ricketts says improvements to the state transportation system will lead to economic growth.

“So, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the great infrastructure we need to be able to grow agriculture and manufacturing, which are our two largest industries.”