Gage County Legislation Backed to Pay Wrongfully Convicted

Gage County supervisors are backing legislation that would allow a countywide sales tax to help pay the $28.1 million owed to six people who were wrongfully convicted for a 1985 Beatrice murder. Board chairman Myron Dorn outlined his proposal Wednesday at his last board meeting before joining the Legislature. Right now, counties can’t collect sales taxes in communities that are collecting their own sales taxes, such as Beatrice. The bill would allow a blanket sales tax over an entire county as a way to help pay off federal judgments. The half-cent sales tax permitted in the proposal would be removed once a judgment is paid off. Dorn estimated the tax would generate around $1 million annually in Gage County.