Dozens of Southeast Nebraska farmers voice concerns over property valuations

STERLING, Neb. — Farmers and landowners from rural Southeast Nebraska gathered Friday to voice growing concerns over sharp increases in property valuations.

Local farmer Chris Nielsen hosted an impromptu meeting on his farm in Sterling, drawing dozens of local farmers.

“Everyone’s frustrated,” Nielsen said. “They go to the courthouse looking for answers and get nowhere. So we reached out to the people we could and got some senators here who would listen.”

State Senators Myron Dorn (District 3) and Bob Hallstrom (District 1), along with Johnson County Assessor Terry Keebler were in attendance.

Nielsen said property valuations in Johnson County have increased by approximately 20% compared to 2024 levels — a jump that has left many landowners like David Keim looking for answers.

“We need some rationale as to why everything keeps going up so much,” said David Keim, a local farmer. “We also need better communication from our leaders. We want to know what we’re getting for our money — that’s the big thing.”

Lawmakers noted property valuations don’t just impact farmland, but also residential properties. They also emphasized voting as Dorn said voting as citizens have the option to choose who impacts decisions on property valuations.

“If you don’t take the time to go vote, don’t come talk to us about all this other stuff,” Dorn said. “That’s the one thing we get to do as Americans, we get to vote. And our vote matters. That is one thing I have learned up there [in Lincoln], people will complain, but ask them if they voted.”

Sen. Dorn explained that real change will require cooperation and consensus within the Nebraska Legislature.

“It takes 33 votes to ultimately get something across,” Dorn said. “I know the governor is working very hard, as many other senators are. One of the things many [senators] talked about is we didn’t get anything done, we did however last year in LB-34 in special session.”

Nielsen says rising property valuations cause unneeded stress as farmers budget throughout the year.

“The last five years we’ve been in a drought,” Nielsen said. “We rely on Mother Nature a lot to water the crops and the cattle, then we get hit with this, it just adds to it.”