The City of Grand Island lowered its property tax levy for 2026. Grand Island Public Schools lowered its levy. Hall County lowered its levy too. Bills go out in December, and plenty of them will still be higher than last year's.
In Nebraska a levy rate is the last number calculated. Each taxing body first decides how many dollars it needs. The county divides that amount across the total assessed value in its area, and the rate is whatever falls out. When valuations climb about 6%, as Grand Island's did this year, the rate can drop while the dollars collected stay flat or rise. Your share of those dollars depends on how your home's value changed compared with everyone else's.
The dollar figure comes first, and the rate follows
At the City Council's September 2026 budget hearing, staff laid out the math. Grand Island's valuation for 2026 was up $304,336,184, or 6%, over 2025. Keeping the old levy of 0.241485 per $100 on that bigger base would have brought in $605,483 more than the year before. Holding the request at the prior $12,207,540 meant no increase, and the levy fell to 0.227797. Central Nebraska Today reported that the council approved that no-increase ask. The Community Redevelopment Authority, which shows up as its own line on bills inside city limits, also kept its ask at the prior year's amount, and its levy dropped from 0.015805 to 0.014908.
The school district went the other way on dollars. Central Nebraska Today reported that the GIPS board voted 5-0 on Sept. 28 for a 2026-27 levy of $1.065941 per $100 of valuation, down from $1.068034, with a property tax request of $59,194,289. The 2025-26 request was $55,971,247, so the district is asking for $3,223,042 more. That's roughly a 5.8% increase in dollars. Because the district's valuation grew at nearly the same pace, the rate barely moved.
Hall County followed the same pattern. Commissioners approved a $30,621,321 request on Sept. 23, a 5.31% increase, while countywide valuation rose 5.96%, from $8,099,201,130 to $8,581,712,408, according to Central Nebraska Today. The same report puts the county levy at $397.75 per $100,000 of value, compared with $400.03 for 2025-26.
One house, run through both years
Here's a hypothetical home assessed at $200,000 in 2025 whose value rose 6%, in step with the city, to $212,000 in 2026. These are only the three lines with confirmed rates for both years. They aren't a full bill.
| Line on the bill | 2025 rate per $100 | Tax on $200,000 | 2026 rate per $100 | Tax on $212,000 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Grand Island | 0.241485 | $482.97 | 0.227797 | $482.93 | About even |
| Community Redevelopment Authority | 0.015805 | $31.61 | 0.014908 | $31.60 | About even |
| Grand Island Public Schools | 1.068034 | $2,136.07 | 1.065941 | $2,259.79 | Up $123.72 |
The city and CRA lines stay put because their dollar requests stayed put and this house kept the same share of the total. If the same house had gained 12%, its city line would go up even though the city asked for nothing more. If it had gained 2%, its city line would go down. So for any single address, the rate tells you very little. The comparison that matters is your own change in value against the average change.
The school line rises because GIPS asked for more dollars. Run the same arithmetic with the county's reported rates and you get a smaller increase, about $43 on this house. That's an estimate built on the county's published per-$100,000 figures, not a statement amount.
The school levy carries the most weight
The GIPS row matters most because it's the biggest line by a wide margin. On the Nebraska Department of Revenue's list of individual taxing subdivisions and rates for tax year 2025, the district's base levy of 0.948034 plus its two bond levies of 0.058957 and 0.061043 add up to the 1.068034 figure. The other lines a property inside the city and the GIPS district can carry are much smaller:
- City of Grand Island, 0.241485
- Central Platte NRD, 0.021738
- Hall County Airport Authority, 0.027875
- Central Community College, 0.020000
- ESU 10, 0.011912
- Community Redevelopment Authority, 0.015805
- Ag Society, 0.001927
The county line comes on top of these. Even if you use the county's higher reported figure, the school levy alone is larger than all the other lines put together. A 5.8% increase in the school request moves a Grand Island bill more than a flat city budget can offset. If you're comparing Grand Island with another town, the school district's dollar request and the overall growth in valuation will tell you more than the city's headline levy.
Why no pink postcard showed up this year
Nebraska has a warning system for this, and in 2026 it never kicked in for Hall County. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1633, a county, city or school district that wants to raise its request by more than the allowable growth percentage has to join a joint public hearing. Every affected taxpayer gets a postcard headed "NOTICE OF PROPOSED TAX INCREASE." Section 77-1631 sets that allowable growth at 2% plus the subdivision's real growth percentage.
Real growth turned out to be the number in question. KSNB reported that Hall County Assessor Kristi Wold found actual growth of $268,329,719, a 3.31% increase, not the $463,477,197 reported a week earlier. She attributed the $195,147,478 overstatement to Tax Increment Financing properties counted in the growth totals. Commissioners met in an emergency session, cut $195,000 from the miscellaneous fund, and brought the county levy below the hearing threshold.
The threshold is tied to growth, not to the tax a particular owner pays. A request can rise more than 5% and still not trigger a postcard. Not getting one doesn't mean your bill is flat.
Starting in 2027, the warnings come in June
The 2026 cycle is the last one under this system. The Legislature's page for 77-1633 shows it repealed by LB803 effective Jan. 1, 2027. The Department of Revenue's summary of 2026 legislative changes lays out the new order of events:
- By June 1, counties, cities and school districts send the county assessor the time and place of their first budget hearing.
- The assessor's change-of-value notice will show what your city, county and school taxes would be using your new valuation and the prior year's levy.
- By June 25, the Department of Revenue mails a postcard pointing owners to a county website with the hearing schedule.
- A joint public hearing including the county and every city and school district that levies a tax in it is held on or after July 1 and before July 15, after 6 p.m.
- Raising a request above the previous year's will take a two-thirds vote of the governing body, or four-sevenths on a seven-member board.
LB803 also requires anyone filing a valuation protest to include "documentation sufficient for the county board of equalization to determine a different valuation." A buyer who closes on a Grand Island home in the first half of 2027 will see the estimate on the valuation notice before budgets are adopted, which is a fair bit earlier than this year's September decisions.
Credits help, but they don't change the rate
Two state credits come off after the full tax is calculated. The Department of Revenue's Sept. 15, 2026 release sets the 2026 real property credit at $118.87 per $100,000 of non-agricultural value and funds the School District Property Tax Relief Credit at $809,538,045. Neither one lowers a levy. For tax year 2025 those figures were $119.00 per $100,000 and $797,295,208.90. The rate dipped slightly because the same pool of money is spread over more statewide value.
The school credit works much like the levies do. The Hall County treasurer splits the county's allocation by each parcel's share of the school taxes levied in the county this year. Your credit depends on your place in the pool, just like your tax does.
December's statement, in order
Hall County's treasurer mails statements during December. Taxes are due Dec. 31. The first half becomes delinquent the following May 1 and the second half the following Sept. 1, according to the Hall County Treasurer FAQ. For 2026 taxes, that puts the delinquency dates at May 1, 2027, and Sept. 1, 2027.
Does a lower levy mean my taxes went down? Only if your assessed value rose less than the average, or the taxing body cut its dollar request. In this cycle the city held its ask flat while GIPS and the county asked for more.
Why did the county's growth figure matter? The pink postcard threshold is built on real growth. Taking $195 million of TIF value out of the growth count changed what the county could raise without a joint hearing.
Is last year's tax figure on a home a good guide? It shows 2025 valuations and rates. For a home whose value rose in step with the city, the school line alone grows by about 5.8% in 2026.
This post is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Please check your own statement and situation with the Hall County Treasurer or a tax professional.
If you're weighing a Grand Island purchase and want to see how a particular property's tax history fits into what you've budgeted, the team at Summit Real Estate is glad to go through it with you, line by line, before you make an offer. Contact Us Today.
