Lincoln City Council looking at measure that would add transparency to city spending on education campaigns

The city of Lincoln recently spent $190,000 from the general fund on an educational campaign promoting the quarter–cent sales tax increase.

But city council member and mayoral candidate Cyndi Lamm said the city administration announced that after the council approved putting the tax increase issue on the April 9 ballot.

“So people — including the council members — were surprised by that,” Lamm said.  “We didn’t realize or recognize there was going to be an outside vendor.”

Earlier in April, Lamm introduced a proposal that would put a $20,000 limit on such educational campaigns, unless the mayor had prior city council approval to spend more.

But on Monday, Councilman Carl Eskridge introduced another idea to address the same issue.  Rather than having a limit, Eskridge’s proposal says any dollar amount the city wants to spend to educate voters on an issue must be disclosed prior to putting it on the ballot.

“We just need to make sure that we have the money available that helps to educate the community before we vote on things so that people do understand and make a wise decision,” Eskridge said.

He said that information will also go out to voters.

Councilwoman Lamm said she thinks Eskridge’s proposal would protect the public even more than what hers would have.

The council voted to delay their decision on this motion for one week.  They said want to make sure the language is clear to all their members.