Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen held a town hall type meeting in Valentine this morning at Mid Plains Community College. A crowd of about 75 people attend. The Governor started with a few comments about how Nebraska is built on :Faith, Family and Hard Work” He recapped some details of the recent session of the Unicameral and referred to the budget by saying they needed to quote “ take some fat off the bone”. He touched on school funding, community colleges and taxes. When asked later about how the state planned to address the tax issue, Governor Pillen stated that they are studying other states to develope a model for Nebraska. One member of the audience stated that his property taxes had increased by over 100% in some instances. Governor Pillen responded that we “must change the valuation process”. Other topics brought up by audience members included highway funding, workforce shortage, nursing shortage and the crisis in long term skilled nursing. The meeting lasted about one hour.