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HARTINGTON – A Norfolk lawyer has been appointed as the new Cedar County attorney.
Ron Temple now serves as county attorney, officially starting the role July 9. He takes over the term of Nick Matney who submitted his resignation letter which was accepted by the Cedar County Board of Commissioners at its June 25 meeting. In his resignation letter, Matney said he enjoyed working as the county attorney but was taking his career in a different direction, said County Clerk Jessica Schmit.
With his resignation letter, Matney named Temple as his deputy so he could start handing over his case load before the transition of power occurred July 9.
“I’m looking forward to the job and hope that I can meet the expectations of the residents of the county,” Temple said. “Having practiced law for 30 years now, I would like to think that my experience will serve me, and ultimately the county well.”
Matney approached Temple about serving out his term due to Temple’s previous experience in the Dakota County Attorney’s Office in the 1990s. He has been with his current firm, Fitzgerald,Vetter, Temple in Norfolk for the past 27 years.
Temple will be at the Cedar County Courthouse routinely, especially on those days when county court and district court is in session, and during county commissioner meetings, he said.
He said county residents can expect to receive prompt and fair prosecution of criminal cases, as well as prompt and accurate representation in civil matters involving the board of commissioners and other elected officials including tax assessment issues and tax certificate collection matters.
Born in Scottsbluff, Temple received his education at University of Nebraska-Kearney, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and criminal justice in 1991. He earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1994.
He is licensed to practice in all Nebraska and South Dakota state courts, U.S. district courts in both states, and the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Matney started as the Cedar County attorney Nov. 1, 2019. He replaced his brother, Ed, who later went on to become a judge, currently serving as a county court judge for the 6th Judicial District.
Nick, like his brother, pursued a judgeship last year due to the vacancy of retiring judge Douglas Luebe but ultimately Sara Bauer, Fremont, was appointed to fill the role.
Library funding
The board is considering changing the way it annually funds the county’s three public libraries to a percentage of each library’s budget instead of a flat amount.
Directors from the Hartington, Laurel and Randolph libraries attended last week’s meeting. The topic of changing the funding formula first came up at the May 28 meeting when Joan Brodersen, the president of the Hartington Public Library Board of Trustees, first made the request for 10 percent of the library’s budget - or nearly three times the annual support received last year.
Traditionally, the three libraries split evenly the county’s funding, each receiving $6,500 last year.
Tami Anderson, Hartington’s public library director, reiterated Brodersen’s funding request for $18,000 in funding, or 10 percent of the library’s budget, arguing nearly half of its patrons are rural. Circulation of Hartington’s library materials compares with much larger libraries, she said.
“We’re not looking to take away from the other county libraries but we would like to ask funding be based on budget,” she said.
The Hartington Public Library charges a fee of $40 for those patrons outside of the county, for example those from Dixon County. The library waives the fee for any Dixon County children attending Hartington-Newcastle Public School.
Randolph’s library also serves patrons from outside of Cedar County including those from Wayne and Pierce counties. But the Lied Randolph Public Library doesn’t receive any funding from those counties or charge any fees to those residents, said Peggy Leiting, Randolph library director.
Both Hartington and Randolph public libraries offer robust youth and adult programming, and received Gold Level accreditation by the Nebraska Library Commission. Laurel’s public library is accredited at the silver level.
Leiting said the rise of inflation and responsible budgeting leaves little wiggle room. Without county support, the library would have to cut back on its top-notch programming and materials, she said.
“It is a struggle to offer all we do with the budget we have,” Leiting said. The library often relies on donations, grants or fundraisers to support special projects and purchases like its Makerspace equipment and musical instrument park. “We do understand that budgets are tight . . . but we hope you can see the value our library adds to the county.”
Bob Parsons, director of the Laurel Learning Center library, said there hasn’t been much in the way of community programming for the past three years due to COVID-19 and then construction at its site at the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge school facility. However, this summer several in-person Summer Reading program activities have already taken place or are scheduled.
Laurel’s library budget was the lowest at $36,000 due to its dualpurpose structure serving as both the Laurel public library and the LCC school library - available to all patrons in the school district. Costs of facility maintenance and some employee wages are offset by the school district.
Along with keeping collections up to date, Parsons would like to use the county’s funding to create a more inviting “community hub” as well as better promote its services.
“One of the major obstacles to our particular library is that community members don’t really know that we’re here,” he said.
With the school construction project nearing completion, promotion in the community will be a key initiative, he said.
Laurel’s library is open the most hours at 61 per week, followed by Hartington with 48 hours, and Randolph with 35 hours.
Hartington’s library has the largest budget with health insurance being a major contributor to increased costs. For the 2023-24 budget, health insurance rose to $54,000, representing 29 percent of the operating budget, Brodersen told the commissioners in May.
Randolph’s library budget is about $88,000. No health insurance benefits are provided and employees work part-time.
Along with materials, programming and wages, library budgets also include utilities; facility maintenance; Internet, phone, software and technology expenses; databases for online collections; supplies; and postage.
Each library gets a small amount of state aid annually - Laurel received $975 last year; Randolph, $1,114; and Hartington, $1,256.
The county board discussed and considered the library funding requests but did not take any action last week.
Valuation protests
Commissioners met as the Board of Equalization to process valuation protests received by County Assessor Becky Dresden.
Eight property owners submitted valuation protests on 19 parcels this year. Of those 19, only two valuations were changed.
Board Chairman Dave McGregor said property owners should realize the assessor doesn’t have much choice when setting valuations.
State law mandates the assessed value on property must fall within a range – or required level of value – established by the Nebraska Legislature.
The statute states agricultural land has to be valued between 68-75 percent of what the sales are showing while the range for residential and commercial property is placed at 92 to 100 percent of the sales.
The selling price is recorded when a property is sold and the deed is recorded. The county assessor’s office then records the assessed value and a copy is submitted to the Nebraska Department of Revenue.
Residential property values – which have increased across most of the county – are set using the last two years of sales.
The parcel valuations being protested increased in value from 11 to 27 percent over last year.
“It’s a big increase on some but that’s what the sales are reflecting,” Dresden said.
A raise in valuation does not necessarily mean there will be an increase in taxes for property owners.
The tax rate or levy is set after budgets have been submitted each August. If budget requests increase, taxes will be raised.
More than 6,700 Cedar County resident received notices of property values changing in 2024.
