The latest suggestion to help plug the City of Omaha's budget hole would be worth $3 million but would also dig up the difficult past: the annexation of Elkhorn.
Elkhorn-area businessman Patrick Gottsch — who acknowledges having an enduring attachment to the former city — is offering Omaha a one-time $3 million payment if it undoes the controversial 2007 annexation.
Gottsch made the offer Monday in a letter to the Mayor's Office and the offices of all seven City Council members.
The Mayor's Office greeted the letter with a terse rejection. “The city is not for sale,” said Ron Gerard, spokesman for Mayor Jim Suttle.
The city wouldn't address Monday whether such a deal — paying money in return for moving Omaha's boundaries — would be legal. City Attorney Paul Kratz sidestepped the issue, although he said a process exists to de-annex property from the city.
Gottsch said he ran the idea past his attorney, who raised no question about its legality.
“They found a way to annex it, so let's find a way to de-annex it,” Gottsch said.
Along with proposing that Omaha undo the annexation, Gottsch asked that Omaha agree to not re-annex a revived Elkhorn in the future.
Gottsch is part of a prominent family involved in cattle-feeding and land development. His grandfather was Elkhorn mayor for 14 years.
Gottsch said he has never gotten over the annexation — a feeling he said is shared by a lot of other residents of the former Elkhorn.
Gottsch said his business he founded, RFD-TV network, is doing “extremely well” and “fortunately, I'm in a position to make such an offer.”
With the City of Omaha looking to lay off staff and cut services, Gottsch said his “creative” offer deserves consideration.
The city faces a $12 million shortfall in its current budget, largely resulting from declining sales tax revenue. Last week, Suttle announced that he would ground police helicopters and lay off 130 civilian employees.
Even with those and other cuts, the city would need to come up with $3 million more in cuts or new revenue.
Said Gottsch: “Here's a new source of revenue that they didn't have last week.”
Aside from the legal questions, there are questions about whether the proposed deal makes financial sense.
Considering both the cost of providing city services and the added tax base, the price for annexing Elkhorn is generally considered a wash. But if Omaha gave up the Elkhorn territory, $1 million in sales tax revenue would go with it.
Councilman Franklin Thompson, who represents part of the former Elkhorn, said he doesn't support Gottsch's offer.
“It's all about being one community and acting in accordance,” Thompson said.
Councilwoman Jean Stothert, the other Elkhorn-area representative, didn't reject the offer entirely.
But she said unraveling the annexation would be an extremely difficult, long and expensive process.
“I'm not sure that's what the folks in Elkhorn want.”
Contact the writer:
444-1128, jeff.robb@owh.com
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