Gage County officials announce Beatrice 6 payment plan

The Beatrice 6 were wrongfully convicted in the 1985 rape and killing of 68–year–old Helen Wilson in Beatrice.

They were awarded a $28 million judgement.

While that is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Gage County officials are already planning ahead for how they will pay for that with property taxes.

"Currently, that is the only way right now that a county can pay on a judgement," said Gage County Board of Supervisors Chair Myron Dorn.

Dorn said they plan to raise the maximum allowable property tax levy from 38 cents to 50 cents next year.

For the owner of a $100,000 home, that would be an extra $120 a year.

With the new tax levy, it would take more than 8 years to pay for the Beatrice 6 judgement.

That has Gage County residents feeling overwhelmed.

"They wanted to build the new school and we voted down for that because it was a lot of money," Judy Schweer said.  "They wanted to build a new jail and they put that down because it would have been more money taxed to the people that live here.  When do you draw the line?"

Another Beatrice resident who didn’t want to be identified said she fears the trickle down effect will mean her rent will go up.

"I just feel like it’s kind of unfair to pay for somebody’s mistakes from 30 years ago," she said.  "Kind of makes me feel like ‘what’s next?’"

Dorn, who is a farmer and would also have to pay more, said what ever happens, it’s not the end of Gage County.

"Gage County is not going to fall off from the state of Nebraska," he said.  "We are going to be here, we are going to continue to be here.  We have a lot of good things going on in Gage County economic wise."