A new controversy has arisen from the ashes of the tobacco tax fight. The Natural Resources District may end up adding some money to the cancer center.
The NRD is offering to build ponds -- trails -- and playground equipment to the land around the cancer center.
Supporters of the project say this is an example of how the project has become a public and private partnership.
But Doug Kagan with Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom says this is a project the NRD should not be involved with. "What really irks us is that we don't believe the NRD is doing a very good job at maintaining what it's supposed to maintain right now. I personally hike and bike a lot along the Papio trails and I see a lot of silt deposits that are not cleaned up, there is a lot of debris especially under the bridges, there's sinkholes..."
So far, the $370 project includes contributions of $50-million by the state of Nebraska, $35-million by the city of Omaha through a new tobacco occupation tax and $5-million from Douglas County through the inheritance tax.
