West Point voters reject sales tax for economic development
Published 2:08 pm Thursday, November 12, 2026
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On the same day that West Point’s City Council awarded $50,000 in LB840 funds to help a new business get started, West Point voters rejected the continuation of a local sales tax that would have kept in place an economic development tool the city has used for 14 years.
Although the ballot language was required to say voters were deciding if an “additional tax” should be collected, the vote was actually to determine the fate of an existing sales tax.
As was noted in the Sept. 25 issue of the Cuming County News, passage of the ballot issue would have allowed the city to continue to collect its existing half-cent sales tax. Revenue generated by that tax would have continued to be split 50-50, half to economic development efforts and half for capital improvements, including park and recreation facility improvements.
After the votes were counted last Tuesday, the result was “no” to extending the tax but “yes” to continuing the economic development program. However, the sales tax is the main source of funds for the program.
The city can continue to collect the half-cent sales tax through September 2027. It will be up to the city council to decide if the issue should be put to another vote. However, the earliest the city can put it back on the ballot is October 2028. If that happens, and if voters say “yes,” the half-cent sales tax couldn’t take effect until April 2029.
That means West Point would be without the primary source of revenue for its LB840 economic development program for 18 months, from the end of September 2027 until April 2029.
The city’s LB840 fund supported by the sales tax has primarily been used to provide business loans, grants, and related incentives, with a focus on job creation, retention, and economic growth, in line with Nebraska’s LB840 statute.
The ballot issue presented to West Point voters last week noted that the sales tax would generate an estimated $222,714 per year for 15 years for economic development, and the same for parks and recreation improvements.
According to this year’s city budget, the sales tax generated $649,200 for the LB840 program over the last three fiscal years, an average of $216,400 per year. The tax generated the same amount for parks and recreation improvements.
The LB840 fund also collected $174,320 over the same three years from businesses paying back loans made from the LB840 fund. Those loan payments will continue to be made based on the terms of the loans.
Figures provided by the city to the Cuming County News this week show that $538,000 was allocated from the LB840 fund for economic development purposes over those three years, with most of the funds used for grants or loans to new and existing businesses. That total does not include a $25,000 grant and a $25,000 loan that the city approved last Tuesday.
The city also used $151,800 of the LB840 funds in the past three years to support the West Point Chamber of Commerce and Cuming County Economic Development (CCED). The Chamber received $20,000 a year, and CCED received $46,000 in two of those three years, the city budget shows.
In September, the city council approved another $20,000 for the Chamber and another $46,000 for CCED for 2026-2027. City Administrator Tom Goulette said the city council will need to decide how it will continue to fund the Chamber and CCED after September 2027.
The sales tax was also being considered as one possible funding source for a proposed downtown revitalization project. In August, the city council agreed to apply for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) that, if approved, will pay for a study of the downtown business district.
Since voters said “no” to continuing the half-cent sales tax, West Point’s local sales tax will drop from 2 cents to 1 ½ cents starting October 2027. That 1 ½ cents includes the half-cent sales tax for the swimming pool bond that voters passed in 2022.
