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HARTINGTON – Thanks to a new state law, Nebraskans who are late in paying their tax bills will no longer remain anonymous.
The new state law that took effect in September 2023. It implements several new requirements for county delinquent property lists across Nebraska.
According to changes made to Nebraska Revised Statute 77-1802, when counties put delinquent properties up for tax sales, the lists will now include the name of the owner of record of the property and the property’s street address – if any – in addition to previously required items in the sale notice, including the parcel number, the legal description and the tax amount due.
Previously, the legal description of the land was used, and not the actual name of the property owner or physical address of the property.
“This is just an important statutory update,” Cedar County Treasurer Jean Wiebelhaus said. “Property owners were not getting proper notification. That’s why they’re putting the names in the papers and the property addresses, if any.”
These tax sales are held on the first Monday of March, according to state law. Cedar County’s this year will be held 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 4 inside the board of commissioners’ meeting room at the courthouse.
“Anybody can attend, but in order to be a purchaser at the tax sale, you must preregister with the county treasurer’s office,” Wiebelhaus said.
The Cedar County delinquent property lists are all published on Feb. 7, 14 and 21 in the Cedar County News, Laurel Advocate and Randolph Times, the official newspapers for county legal notices.
Wiebelhaus said her office works hard to collect the taxes before the county delinquent property lists are required to be published.
She said if property owners have had delinquent taxes, they would have been notified in December when they received their tax statements.
“It is printed on the top of the tax statement that back taxes and interest are delinquent from the previous tax year,” Wiebelhaus said. “Then I send out notices prior to publishing in the paper – usually in January. Every delinquent property owner gets a notice in January.”
