Republican Candidate, Theresa Thibodeau makes a stop in the panhandle

SIDNEY, Neb. — Taxes were a primary focus during a Panhandle campaign stop on Wednesday.

Republican Candidate running for Governor of Nebraska, Theresa Thibodeau held a meet and greet at Highby Outdoors in Sidney.

Thibodeau said the most important change she wants to make is lowering property tax.

“For me it’s the property tax,” Thibodeau said. “It’s been killing our farmers and ranchers for decades, but it also kills our small businesses.”

Thibodeau said in order to reduce property tax Nebraska needs to grow its economy. Thibodeau referenced Cabela’s getting sold and many community members losing their jobs.

“We all know what happened with Sidney years ago,” Thibodeau said. “They made a positive out of that and a lot of those employees went and opened their own small businesses, or they started working in different areas of farming and agriculture and it was a great thing because they started to ensure that Sidney survived.”

Thibodeau said Sidney needs to grow the housing market to grow the economy.

 Thibodeau plans to lower taxes by funding public schools.

When asked by News Channel Nebraska how she intended to do this, Thibodeau said, "If the state funds public schools, it will remove schools being funded from property tax and will come from state tax revenues collected."

“Having the state step-up to their constitutional duty and fund our public schools,” Thibodeau said. “That not only provides an immediate tax relief for farmers, ranchers, small businesses, and homeowners. It also provides the same amount of funding for every child in our state.”