Bring Back Sidney

03/07/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Several months ago, we reached out to a large law firm in Omaha with more than a dozen attorneys who specialize in Federal law. We have retained their services. This last week, we received their first report. More on that soon.

Right now though, let's stop all the smoke and mirrors. This morning we want to look at just one metric to show everyone just how much trouble we are in. This is the first of several we will show in the upcoming weeks. We need to fix it. The metric is Sales and Use Tax revenue. We have gone back through all records for the past 9 years looking for how Sidney is trending and it is not good. Let's take a look....

Sales and Use Tax Revenue
2016- $3,583,623
2017- $3,627,078
2018- $3,396,552
2019- $3,791,640
2020- $3,305,472
2021- $3,385,589
2022- $3,750,316
2023- $4,764,346
2024- $3,938,137

While all this is going on, our median income per family here in Cheyenne County has dropped by $20,000. This is why so many here are having a difficult time. What this metric does not show is INFLATION... Cost of living. The dollar since 2016 has had an average inflation rate of 3.09%. This means it takes $1.31 today to buy what $1 did in 2016. So, in 2024 just to keep even with 2016 we needed to make $4.6 million from sales and use tax, we made $3.9 million. We are going down when adjusted for inflation.

Some here say, “BBS bad talking is destroying our local economy”. No, we haven't had an active local economy for 9 years because we are doing NOTHING to fix it. Our city manager and his reckless spending are making it worse. I have a question, “where are the 100 new businesses?” Obviously the 100 new businesses, have had NO impact on our sales tax revenues. Also, this is why the city pushed so hard for the ½ cent sales tax, they need the money just to stay afloat. We are not keeping up with inflation.

Just look at our downtown. It is OBVIOUS we are in trouble. We are struggling and inflation is destroying what little sales revenue we have. This last month, 2 major buildings on the hill went up for auction. Currently, we have them valued at over $15 million. They auctioned for $1,25 million. That is horrible. Sidney does not have an active economy and hasn't been for a long time. This lack of economy is affecting schools, and businesses and soon we will be cutting more services because the money just isn't there.

Grants are not fixing our problem. We have paid out millions since 2016 and they are not working. We will look into that soon as well. We need to drive more business to make more sales. We are NOT a business-friendly community. Taxes are too high. We need to fix this first. We need to immediately stop spending. Elect new leaders with better ideas. We have been stagnated for 9 years. How much longer must we endure before we are willing to make some changes?

Inflation Calculator
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2016?amount=1

03/03/2025

Grace Gardens Preschool is having a benefit event Tuesday, March 4 from 5pm to 7pm. This is a great opportunity to support the children in our community. Please share this link and help them let people in our community know about this event. Thanks so much!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1322691295735530

02/28/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
This past Tuesday, at the city council meeting, Rauner & Associates presented the City of Sidney with its yearly Audit of the City Budget and spending. As you can see in the video, our Mayor was absent from this meeting. The audit is one of the most important meetings a city council can have each year. It explains the city's full financial position.

The city made 9 pages of the audit available to the public. Normally the audit is over 50 pages, so there were a lot of very important pages missing. Of course, the ones they gave us say “Everything is great in Sidney”. Does anyone truly believe that? The audit presentation lasted about 25 minutes and there was 1 question from the council members that we saw. We have lots of questions. We will be asking them.

The following day, Wednesday we visited with the City Finance Director in his office at city hall and asked for the complete audit to which he immediately made a copy for us. We got a copy without going through a legal FOIA process. That is a step forward for our community. We found some common ground with our Finance Director and common agreement on some of the problems currently facing our city. Unlike our city manager, he was very forthcoming and welcomed further conversations. We are very hopeful we can keep this conversation moving in a positive direction.

There are still some here that do not understand our page. We are a watchdog. We were formed to bring truth to numbers and government actions. Inform residents. To fight high taxes and bring truth to spending. Accountability. The gaslighting here is amazing. Even in the current audit, they are still touting “We are doing well with 100 new businesses in Sidney”. Really? Then why has sales tax collection gone down since last summer? A concern shared by our city finance director. How come there are more empty businesses downtown than at any point in the last 8 years? How is it that our levy (tax collection) for some tax sub-divisions is at the maximum allowed by state law and we are still having to cut services? We are at MAXIMUM taxes allowed by state law and still going down. We need better priorities.

Let's stop the gaslighting. Look at true numbers. Over 50% of our property tax is used to make debt payments and cover losses from horrible fiscal decisions by our council and city manager. Money that should be going to increase the quality of life in Sidney, but it is not. Money lost on horrible decisions. This last week we received lots of messages from other residents and businesses. City parking lots were NOT being plowed and angry service drivers had to manage some roads that were never cleared. Real people. Residents. Time to listen. Watch out for each other. Have a conversation and find solutions. Time to recall some officials and have accountability for poor decisions.

02/25/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Each year at this time the “Derby” takes over everything. When my son was in “Boy Scouts” it was the Pinewood Derby. Here at our church in Sidney, we call it “the Derby”. It is a night full of laughs, way too many nachos, and cheering for every car, each child to run their car the best they can.

For me, it is all about watching the creativity of the kids in our community. Some build for speed. Some build for style. The kids line the track watching and cheering all the cars, while some Dads, group together in the back discussing why each car is running the way it is. Sharing tips and tricks to make cars run faster. A community event.

2 years ago I watched a young family show up for the event but they didn't have a car. One of our church members gave the little girl an extra car they had. That is a community. The car ran perfectly. She won a trophy. I watched her leave the church that night clinging to that trophy and car with such joy. That is what it is about. The kids of our community. The Derby builds community. It is all about fun.

Yesterday my 6-year-old grandchild, put way too much paint on her car. I laughed inside as she told me “It is OK if it is a little bumpy”. She is building “the Cheetah” It looks fast, but a little bumpy, LOL. The 11-year-old said, “Papa I want a penguin this year”. She proceeded to show me pictures of penguins. Can we make this one? Of course...LOL. Watch out Sidney, tomorrow night the “Penguinador” is coming. A penguin with the power of the Terminator....LOL. Who cares if it runs fast, it looks good!

Today the girls go over to a friend's house for “wheels”. He has a special way to set the wheels in the cars. Balancing, weighing, and test runs. The pressure on parents and grandparents is amazing...LOL. The memories of the cars and the fun nights stay with you for years. “The Batmobile”, “The Radio Flyer”, “The Super Mario”. Building memories that will stay with our kids for years. Building a community. Coming together. That is what the Derby is all about. Everyone coming together and cheering on our kids. Our next generation of creativity and racers.

02/21/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Time for reflection....
Sept. of 2022, I wrote an article on this page about Kevin Fair. A man in Scottsbluff had his home taken away for a tax bill of $588 by Scotts Bluff County. Why did a nice community allow that to happen? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=124000013741719&set=pb.100083951631774.-2207520000&type=3 I closely followed this case because these laws are used here as well. Local courts, Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in favor of Scotts Bluff County. Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled AGAINST Scotts Bluff County and the state of Nebraska. Slapping Nebraska's hands for violating Constitutional law. 3 months ago, Kevin Fair got his home back. Scotts Bluff County had violated the “takings clause” of the 5th Amendment which took away his 4th amendment rights and the value of his property. While this court battle went on, his wife died of cancer and he suffered a stroke. Scotts Bluff County, took his property and gave it to a third party, so wrong. The U.S. Supreme Court slapped Nebraska and ordered them to take another look at it. Nebraska Supreme Court corrected its decision. Kevin Fair has his home back. Watch the link below.

In the summer of 2023 a resident in Potter wrote us asking for help. Cheyenne County had come on his property, crossing numerous “No Trespassing” signs, and then the county wrote a letter saying he was violating a County Ordinance. The property owner asked us if this was allowed. I said I didn't think so, contacted my attorney in Lincoln, and emailed our County Attorney some questions. Is the County Ordinance legal, or is it another “takings clause” example? The Supreme Court rulings on these cases are pretty clear. Laws can not be created that violate the 4th Amendment property protection rights of landowners unless specific circumstances exist. Does a Cheyenne County Ordinance violate the 5th Amendment “Takings Clause” as it applies to the 4th Amendment? The question needs to be asked. Maybe even in court.

Our County Attorney asked me to cite case law. A proper thing to do. Case law controls everything. I learned that in court many times. You win by following case law. I have several times. I cited Cedar Point Nursery V. Hassid, (2021). A U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the state of California for allowing state officials to go onto private property. California's law allowing officials to go onto someone's property violated the “takings clause” of the 5th Amendment, taking away the person's 4th Amendment rights. https://www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/cedar-point-nursery-v-hassid/ It was a recent decision and hopefully very valid in this case as well. Cheyenne County can not “create” any ordinance that violates your 4th Amendment Property Rights. No official can cross a “no trespassing” sign without a warrant unless there is a risk of life or death, that is case law. Through discussions, a solution was found for the property owner. The legality of the ordinance hasn't been challenged yet, so it is still there. As the property owner said to me when it was all over, “All they had to do was ask”. Really an easy thing to do. Respect people's property rights.

What Scotts Bluff County and Cheyenne County did was wrong. Some local leaders are violating Federal laws. In future posts, we will show and cite specific laws with the help of attorneys and paralegals specializing in Federal law. Take a look at these 2 statutes, 18 U.S.C. § 241 and 242 You will be surprised. https://www.justice.gov/crt/statutes-enforced-criminal-section

We need to elect people that represent all residents, equally. That know the law. That is not happening yet. Let's educate, recall, prosecute if needed, and do better. More coming. Lots more coming

https://www.wsaz.com/2024/12/25/man-who-lost-his-home-over-588-gets-title-back-after-state-supreme-court-ruling/

https://pacificlegal.org/press-release/nebraska-homeowner-recovers-title-to-his-home-after-nebraska-supreme-court-win/

02/19/2025

I just have to share this. We were sent these photos at 7:30 a.m. this morning. This is our golf course parking lot. The resident who sent these to us said she had a difficult time getting down her residential road, so she went up to the golf course, and low and behold, it was freshly plowed.

So the city this week put out a notification of “priorities” for clearing streets. I guess the golf course parking lot, with no cars there is more important than some residential roads. Unreal.

02/18/2025

In the early 2000s, my wife and I traveled the world building our company. I came across a funny thing to do in each country we were moving our products into—the “Big Mac” hamburger. The McDonald's business model is amazing. It was built on adaptation.

The thing I noticed is that each McDonald's is different. In Australia, you can get a pickled beet on the Big Mac, or McOz. In Japan, you can get an egg on the Big Mac along with 4 patties, the “Mega-Egg”. I set a funny little goal of having my picture taken with a Big Mac in each country we went to. I have a photo of me eating a “Le Big Mac” on the Champ-Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe in the background in Paris. Oh, you can buy wine with your Big Mac in Paris.

I had a beer with my Big Mac in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and corn soup with it in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. I like corn soup! I quickly realized that the McDonald's business model was amazing. They took the core concept of an American hamburger into 120 different countries but ADAPTED how that hamburger was presented to fit in with each culture in each country. We did the same with our products. Adapt.

In Sidney, we drone on with the same tax and spend policies each month. We are not adapting to changes nationally or locally. We send our City Manager to another housing conference but then nothing changes. He has no policies that are working. Their answer is to raise taxes, not adapt our policies. Our mayor chooses who he wants on the council and then presents no plans for our future. Nothing is going to change, but it needs to. Homes get older, taxes go up and nothing changes. Each council meeting is an opportunity to begin change and adapt to changes happening around us, but we don't. Lost opportunities.

We need to establish some enterprise zones to allow businesses to recover and adapt to our changing economy. Adapt our spending to our reduced revenues. Last week we spoke with an attorney from the Nebraska Department of Revenue concerning some issues here in Sidney. His answers shocked us. More investigation is needed and then we will present that information to everyone. Hopefully, enough people will help us adapt to the changes that have to be made.

It is up to ALL of us. Let's adapt. Work together. Look at the waste being found in some federal agencies. I assure you, it is here locally as well. We see it in the budgets. We will show you. We can fix it together but you need to be willing to adapt. We need to list our priorities from schools to taxes and adopt policies that will achieve those goals. Start today!

02/14/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Well, we have absolutely no clue what this person is talking about. A bunch of accusations that are not true. Please check your facts. We have never contacted NDOT, nor have any idea what you are referring to or even what laws she might have violated for NDOT to put her project on hold. The only thing I heard she is doing is putting shipping containers up by Walmart. I don't care about shipping containers, I care about taxes. Keep looking, it isn't us.

It is interesting that this person goes on the blame us for everything bad happening in Sidney. Our page is causing the decline in Sidney. Seriously? A page, more than the policies and taxes of our local leaders is causing the decline of Sidney? Next week they will blame us for global warming. Our page is causing global warming. I am sorry, you are misguided and give us too much credit.

Over a year ago I wrote the post “Heaven is Real”. It is real Sidney. We need more faith here. We need to treat everyone fairly and with our faith. We are all neighbors. Our residents of Sidney are hurting. They are leaving. Taxes are too high, wages too low. Our economic engine is broken and needs to be fixed. It is not our posts causing people to leave. That is deflecting. People come to us asking us to post, asking us for help, but please don't use our name because we are afraid. That is happening here, every day. People here in Sidney are hurting, and they are leaving and not investing because of our city and county policies and taxes, not because we write posts about them. You give us too much credit. I am sorry your project is on hold Jessica, we didn't do it or contact anyone about it, nor have any idea who did.

02/12/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
The old idiom “Nero fiddled while Rome burned” comes to mind while watching the city council meeting last night. Not one question was asked to our city finance director from the council, as to why our sales tax revenue went down again for the month of January. Why AGAIN we went into the red in the general fund. Not one question. NOT ONE! I think our finance director's statement “ I think we will see some of this turnaround as we come into summer months but..... time will tell”. He once again said, “I think the biggest concern is sales tax and watching how it progresses”.

What is our city manager doing? He is going next month to a conference on housing. Does anyone actually think that will help? He built $299K starter homes this last year. Unreal. Time to buy a fiddle.

Yesterday, I spoke for a long time with a business owner downtown. They told me their 2024 was down 30%. So far this year they are down. They are really worried. They should be. Why is sales tax down? Because sales in Sidney are down. Down in several sectors. Yes, it is seasonal, but when compared to previous years. WE ARE DOWN. What is our council doing about it? Nothing.

This last election Brian Fort talked about a plan to rebuild the economy downtown. Enterprise zones, tax relief, public involvement. City investment in the downtown to create more opportunities for start-ups. What we got from the election is a group of fiddle players who are going to wait and see what happens. The vast majority of you will not watch the city council meeting, but you should. We all need to care. You can watch it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_59_ubTIpls What do you think? As we have stated before we are certainly happy we now have a new chief of police, but what is our council doing about the other problems downtown?

How many here think DOGE is going to give grants to Sidney? Time to put down the fiddles and get to work, Sidney. We need to replace these people with residents who have ideas, have plans, and have questions as to why we continue to go down. Replace before it is too late. Start speaking up. Someone needs to. Recall.....

02/11/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Well, bidding is underway for those office buildings on the hill. The first bid met the reserves. So as of now with just over 1 day left the current bid sits at $850K. You can keep up here.... https://www.ten-x.com/listing/1-cabela-dr-sidney-ne-69160/34276742/

The truth is no matter what goes in there, there is no hope for it helping our situation. First, there is still a TIF on Cabelas 2 so we will not see any revenue from that for at least the next several years. Very poor long-term planning by our leaders.

So with all the “funding truths” being found out by DOGE in our federal spending, don't you think it is time we look at our local spending as well? Our spending here by our city manager and council is out of control. In 2020 our budget was $28.2 million. In 2024 it was $38.9 million. How do we increase spending by over 10 million in just 4 years? Where is all this money going? We will show you some answers very soon.

In Nebraska, the average household income is $71,722. In Sidney that average is $49,866. $22K less. Last year our state senator wrote an article stating it takes an average income of $76,000 to buy a home in Nebraska. He said Nebraska has a huge problem with young couples leaving and heading east to Iowa, Missouri, and South to Kansas for a better life. It is true. In all three states, wages are higher and home prices are lower. Realtor.com says you need $83,393 to buy a home in Nebraska. Here is a link. https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/how-much-you-need-to-earn-in-every-state-to-buy-a-home/

The bottom line is while we go into debt to pave parking lots and spend on other luxuries like pickleball courts the vast majority of our residents can not afford to move up in our current economy. Salaries are too low and costs are too high. Our local officials have no plan to address this. Nothing is in the works that will help. We asked. Nothing. But our mayor chose HIS choice and not one over 1,059 residents voted for. When are the residents going to demand change?

Tonight there is a city council meeting. New numbers should be coming. We are expecting a rise in the sales tax revenue because historically there has been here in Sidney following the holidays and as we move into Spring and Summer. Let's hope. We have deficit spent $1.8 million more than we have taken in this year so far. We are in trouble. Our economic outlook is not great. Our downtown needs new income, badly. The County Commissioners are also appointing a new County Attorney tonight. The public has had no say in that as well. It is time for more transparency. Let's look closer at our spending levels.

This week, new reports we requested from state officials will be here. This will give us an even better ability to project into the future of Sidney. We better start doing that. We need to recall our Mayor remove our City Manager and get down to fixing our spending and economy.

02/07/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Many of us know we are in trouble. Our community is hurting and we need to make changes and find answers together. What is the future for our children and grandchildren? Last night I read Mayor Brad Sherman's reasons for not respecting the 1,059 people of Sidney who voted for Brian Fort in the last election. He had HIS reasons, but were those truly community reasons? I do not want to, and we should not attack anyone personally. We do, however, need to hold them accountable for their policies. Policies that have driven Sidney further into economic decline. Mayor Sherman's policies do not serve the people of Sidney, they serve a selected few in Sidney.

This week I heard we are laying off teachers. True? The bottom line is our City is in worse trouble than our schools. We have shown in the last couple of posts that 3 months into the new fiscal year we have already deficit spent $1.8 million. Layoffs in city workers will be coming if we don't stop spending now.

Here is the plan....
For the next 60 days, we are going to present numbers. No, not numbers from our city manager. I do not believe those. I believe our City Manager operates in his own interest, and like the Mayor not in the interests of the residents of Sidney. We will show numbers from Nebraska State Officials. State reports. The truth behind some of these secret “TIFs” and “special grants.” We will show clear violations of Federal law by some in local government. We will present recorded conversations and documents. Then once the residents of Sidney have had time to digest, discuss, and come together as a community we will start a recall discussion and just exactly which officials need to be removed. There is a reason we are waiting 60 days. We will explain more about that next week. It is going to happen, but it will not be successful without everyone in our community coming together and voting for a better future. Working together we CAN rebuild this economy here with better-paying jobs, lower-cost housing, and lower taxes. It will take all of us though. New leadership, new ideas, and most of all fairness so more of the community can participate not the same selected few.

02/04/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
This last month there was an issue with a “grant” from the Cheyenne County Visitors Committee that came to light with the resignation of the chair of the Visitors Committee.

Yesterday the Cheyenne County Commissioners answered those concerns with the temporary suspension of the visitors committee while the rules and bylaws are reviewed. The “grant” had “problems”. As we said earlier, when there is a question of law, a legal matter, table the issue until the truth can be found out, that is the proper thing to do. Easy thing to do.

The visitor's committee are volunteers and were trying to do the “right thing”. We appreciate that and need more of that involvement in Sidney. They have brought good things to Sidney and we need to support that and appreciate that. There will be mistakes that happen from time to time, and that is why it is vital we install more overlapping oversight of grants and public monies. We don't always have that in our city and county. Hopefully, this temporary suspension will bring out ways the public can add to that oversight. We need more transparency. More public input. More public eyes reviewing purchases, and spending by the city. There are questions.

Thank you to our County Commissioners for their oversight and solution to this problem. There needs to be a review of rules and bylaws. My problem is, our city manager was at that meeting. He oversees millions of dollars in grants for us. Why didn't he recognize this issue and stop it?

01/31/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Lots of residents wrote us this week with concerns asking us to bring these issues up so people can talk about them. Too many to write posts about so let's just list some topics. Here are a few....

School Budget Cuts: Some tough decisions are going to have to be made. What do you think? We all knew these cuts were coming last year. What are the answers?

Grants—legal, nonlegal, illegal. The paper retracted its story, which is about right. Last night, a concerned resident sent us the visitor grant application and also a copy of the letter from our ex-county attorney, Paul Schaub. There are legitimate legal concerns here. The County Commissioners meet on Monday. We will see what they say. What is the legal and ethical answer?

Downtown- According to the article written in 2023 and linked below, we spent $3.74 million in grants, downtown for 14 businesses. Has all that money helped? Maybe, just maybe it is time we fix the economic engine and stop depending on these grants that are not doing anything. Lower taxes!

Housing- We have heard from no less than 4 families this month alone that are leaving Sidney because they can't afford to live here. Housing is too expensive and wages are too low. While the city council keeps rewarding our City Manager with raise after raise, our economy is sinking like the Titanic.

Deficit Spending- In the first fiscal quarter of this year our City Council spent $1.8 million more than we took in. Our ship could be sinking. Historically, there will be a bump in sales revenue in the spring. That needs to happen and happen BIG! If not, the city council will have to make cuts like our schools. People will lose their jobs, there is an iceberg ahead everyone. But don't worry, Sidney always comes back.......

Housing, taxes, incomes, the loss of Camping World, Watch the the video with the owner of Camping World. He was excited to come to Sidney. What happened? I have heard dozens of reasons but nothing from our City Manager. It is time we come together and FIND ANSWERS! School cuts are just the beginning, city cuts are next......

Sidney Sunshine
https://flatwaterfreepress.org/six-years-after-cabelas-debacle-the-sun-hasnt-set-on-sidney/

Need 200 homes
https://southeast.newschannelnebraska.com/story/49046523/discussing-economic-challenges-and-answers

Need affordable homes
https://www.suntelegraph.com/story/2023/11/16/opinion/nebraskas-housing-market/18916.html

https://panhandle.newschannelnebraska.com/story/50121824/city-council-approves-housing-development

Camping World
https://nebraska.tv/newsletter-daily/camping-world-to-build-14-acre-facility-in-sidney

01/30/2025

Great show this weekend. Hosted by local craft and small businesses. Let's all go out and support our talented creators. :)

One week to go!
We are so excited!!
A bunch of your local vendors are getting together for a Valentine's (and beyond) Craft & Vendor show !
Right here in Sidney, at our very own Lodgepole Valley Youth Camp!
Saturday February 1st, 2025, from 10 am to 3 pm
you will be able to shop a variety of local small business owner's product that will be GREAT for gifting for the upcoming holiday (s) and beyond. or just because you deserve it!
Come, get out of the house and join us for some shopping - from Chocolate's to Greeting Cards to Home Decor, and lots of goodies in between!
PLUS, there will be FREE cards for the kiddos to color on site!
Last but certainly not least...
"Just for Kix Nationals Team" will fundraise by providing Hot Cocoa and Coffee from the kitchen!
MARKYOUR CALENDARS AND JOIN US!

01/28/2025

Good Morning Sidney and Cheyenne County
It has been a few months since we have shown our page stats. We like to be transparent with everyone so the community can see what posts we make that matter. Here are the results for January so far.

You can see that the number 1 post was about the city's finances. It matters. Many people have come back to read it several times. Overall we had nice growth also considering that we posted 40% less than normal because we are working behind the scenes on other issues. Pretty good. Hopefully, more people will become informed and join us in our quest to fix Sidney's economy. For the past 8 years, we have wasted millions of dollars on fixes that are not addressing the core issue. Taxes, higher wages, and cost of living. Next week we will take an in-depth look with the help of Nebraska state agencies. Together we are going to bring changes.