Your priorities are my priorities. That will never change.Issues

My priorities for COVID recovery include advocacy and support for vaccine distribution and an extended mask ordinance.  As a former critical care nurse, I know how important the vaccine is, and I encourage you to get the shots when you can. Additional priorities include support for job training and work transition efforts, as well as significant financial assistance for those with housing insecurity.

I will also continue working with the Mayor’s COVID Advisory Board, which has been operational since March 2020. This group of community leaders and health experts has provided pivotal guidance in decision-making and best practices for all of Omaha. Our 2021 priorities include youth services, small business support, mental health and health equity.

We have already used various funding sources for rent and mortgage assistance, food distribution, mental health services and emergency shelter for people impacted by COVID. We will continue aligning resources with needs as we move into the closing stages of the pandemic. You can read and print copies of the checklist HERE. 

We activated our COVID Advisory Board in March 2020. Since then, we’ve worked closely with the Douglas County Health Department, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and many other local partners and leaders to make the best decisions for the safety and well-being of our residents and community. 

From March until now, I’ve held over 25 news conferences with Douglas County Health Director Adi Pour to keep you informed about how COVID was impacting our community and steps we must all take to keep our community as safe as possible.

Our unemployment rate has dropped below 3.5% after jumping to over 9% last summer, but too many people are now underemployed or working multiple jobs to make ends meet. In 2021 and beyond, we will continue expanding support for job training programs and work transition efforts.  

We know our restaurants and small businesses have been seriously damaged by the pandemic, and to provide some relief, we waived all late fees on the city restaurant tax from March through December, 2020. I was delighted when we were able to provide a gift to the Food Bank of over $105,000, money from swimming pool admission fees, made possible by private donor support.

Percent of Omaha General Fund Budget Dedicated to Public Safety:

One of our initial goals was to add nearly 100 new police officers for a total of 902 budgeted officers.  We have now met this important milestone and we’ve done it without increasing the city property tax rate.

We built and staffed a new police precinct in Elkhorn to improve response times and provide better service citywide.  Our department leadership has worked hard to build community trust by working with neighborhood and volunteer groups.  These partners are critical to our work in reducing crime and supporting our youth.

• More highly trained police officers are on the job now than ever before
• Annual crime numbers for the most serious crimes (Part 1 offenses) are the lowest in a decade, even as our city has grown.
• More crimes are being solved now than in the past.
• Police response times for 911 calls have improved and are now better than we’ve seen in over 10 years.
• Officer-involved shootings are the lowest on record

Going forward, our goal is to make a very good police department even better.

• Further reducing the incidence of crime, especially violent crime,
• Expanding the department’s mental health co-responder program so more resources are directed at mental illness and its impact on illegal behavior.
• Providing the best equipment possible, like body-worn cameras, so officers can do their job effectively and with greater transparency,
• Hiring a more diverse police force,
• Building stronger community/officer relationships, and,
• Providing citizens a better way to voice issues regarding law enforcement conduct.

In addition to Omaha’s 902 sworn police officers, our city has 663 committed employees in the fire department.  These men and women dedicate themselves to public safety through lifesaving responsibilities like firefighting, training, education, and ambulance and emergency services.

Voter approval of our “Road Map to Better Streets” plan in 2020 has provided funds for the start of new and significant road repair work that will continue for many years to come.

We had to move away from temporary road patching and commit to a long-term, comprehensive plan to dedicate more resources to finally fix the roads we all drive on each day.

Our plan was developed after extensive public input and community meetings.  We knew Omaha taxpayers had to be partners in the solution from day one.

Working together, we proposed one of the most significant financial and community improvement initiatives in history.  Omaha voters overwhelmingly approved our new roads program and a future levy increase to pay for it.

Here is what we are focused on in the years ahead:

• Managing city finances well so we can postpone the voter-approved levy increase for street repair as long as possible,
• Doubling the amount of road repair work done in Omaha each and every year,
• Requiring reliable and competitive bids so more road repairs and resurfacing can be accomplished with the funding available,
• Providing $6 million in new funding each year to address Omaha’s “unimproved streets”. These are streets that were not initially built to current city standards by subdivision developers,
• Eliminating government regulations that slow down road repair projects, and,
• Ensuring faster approvals and more funding for unimproved street repairs in high poverty areas.

All of the long overdue work on our roads will require our patience and it will take some time to feel like we are really catching up.

This new program will require daily management and oversight to get the work done right.  I am proud to have proposed this successful initiative and I would be even more proud to manage it for Omaha for the next four years!

There are two primary sources of city revenue, the city sales tax and the city’s portion of the local property tax.

The sales tax rate remains unchanged since I first became mayor and we have lowered the city property tax rate twice.  While the city portion of your property tax is smaller than some other taxing entities (and some of them have increased their rates) we are doing all we can to run Omaha efficiently and keep rates at the lowest possible level.

We’ve grown the economy, expanded city boundaries, added to critical efforts like public safety, and started transportation initiatives and park improvements, all while experiencing minimal growth in the city budget and reducing the tax rate twice.  That’s a record I’m proud of!

My commitment to you for the next four years includes:

• Preparing every city budget with transparency,
• Adhering to and exceeding the best financial practices for government entities,
• Reducing expenses when certain city functions can be merged, reduced, or eliminated.
• Keeping all tax rates as low as possible while still providing the responsive services you expect, and,
• Delaying, until absolutely required, the voter-approved levy change that is allowing our city to double road repairs every year.