OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The death of CNN founder Ted Turner at age 87 raises questions about the future of nearly half a million acres of Nebraska Sandhills ranch land and a tax promise to rural communities.
Turner was the single largest landowner in Nebraska. In Cherry County alone, his properties are worth nearly $120 million, according to the Flatwater Free Press.
At his peak, Turner owned nearly a half million acres in the Nebraska Sandhills — more than double the size of Douglas County.
Ted Turner in Nebraska(Courtesy photo)
In 2021, Turner made a promise: His nonprofit, the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture, would keep paying property taxes on land he donated. The commitment mattered for rural counties that rely on property taxes to fund schools and services.
But now that Turner is gone, it is unclear whether anyone can hold the nonprofit to that promise.
“That seems very unlikely, unless there’s some contractual provision — you can promise whatever you want to, no one can hold you to it,” said Paul Weitzel, an assistant professor of law at UNL.
Nothing legally stops Turner’s children and grandchildren, who control the nonprofit’s board, from applying for property tax exemption, Weitzel said.
“It’ll depend on how the land is being used. If they apply for the tax exemption, and the land is predominantly used for nonprofit activities, then it will probably be granted a tax exemption,” Weitzel said.
The Turner Institute sells bison meat. That commercial activity could complicate any exemption claim.
If the property taxes stop, the impact would be costly. Cherry County alone could lose more than $960,000 a year, according to the Flatwater Free Press.
“If they lost that revenue, that could decrease the amount of services that were provided, or the municipalities would have to come up with some other way of raising the revenue — maybe through bonds or higher taxes,” Weitzel said.
Day-to-day operations on Turner’s ranches are unlikely to change, Weitzel said. But whether his word holds is a question only his family can answer.
First Alert 6 reached out to Turner Enterprises and the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture for comment, but has not received responses.
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