Bellevue Mayoral Candidates Split on How to Deliver Property Tax Relief

Bellevue voters will decide between longtime Mayor Rusty Hike and challenger Kevin Pflager, in a race shaped by property taxes, development and the future of Olde Towne.

Both candidates say they want to lower property taxes and keep improving the city. They part ways on how to get there. Property taxes were a leading concern among voters interviewed in Olde Towne, according to KMTV 3 News Now.

Hike pointed to large projects, including the water park and the REACH project, as the foundation of a plan to draw visitors and businesses and widen the city's tax base. He said hotels and restaurants are following those projects. "When you're coming from out of state or outside the city, those people are leaving money here in your city, which allows you to start lowering your property taxes," he said.

Pflager said he would work to make those projects succeed if elected, including ensuring that development around the water park complements it. "We have to do everything in our power to make sure it's a success," he said. But he argued that Bellevue also needs steady sales tax growth rather than leaning heavily on big projects. The water park, he said, is "a big, fancy idea and I think it will help," but "it is not going to be the sustainable, guaranteed, foolproof method to get these down."

On Olde Towne, the two are closer. Hike called its revitalization a priority and described it as the city's downtown and a place to go. Pflager also backs improvements and said he would look to grants and loans to fund them, envisioning a place where people gather on a Friday night with friends and family.

The absence of an official debate drew criticism from at least one voter, an 18-year-old preparing to cast a first ballot who said they wanted to learn more about the candidates. Pflager had floated the idea of a debate online. Hike said he would take part if an independent party organized it, but not otherwise. "I'm certainly not afraid to debate anybody, but I want to make sure it's an unbiased debate and not some kind of hit job," he said. Pflager said he considered his request an official invitation, made in response to a Facebook post Hike wrote about him.

Conflict-of-interest questions came up for both men. Some residents wanted Hike to address whether his real estate business could affect his decisions as mayor. He said it does not, and that he recuses himself from votes on projects near his company's properties when necessary. "I do own some properties around town, but there's a lot of people who own some properties around town," he said.

Hike in turn questioned Pflager's work as a city planner for neighboring Papillion, asking how he could effectively represent Bellevue while planning for a competing city. Pflager said that view misreads a planner's role and that his job is not to recruit development to Papillion. Developers, he said, have typically chosen a site before they come through. He said the only conflicts he could foresee as mayor would involve a land swap or boundary adjustment, adding that many such matters were settled years ago.

The contest offers voters an incumbent focused on continued development and a challenger who argues for a broader approach to building sustainable tax revenue.