(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
Auditor Mike Foley announced Tuesday morning that he had discovered nearly $1 billion in accounting errors by the Lancaster County Treasurer, Rachel Garver. Some of the errors affected the amount of property tax relief residents were owed.
Foley found that Lancaster County, the State of Nebraska, and every taxing authority in Lancaster County “received disproportionate shares of revenues to which they were legally entitled. The state of Nebraska also did not receive a proper $1.2 million payment that would have gone into the Property Tax Credit Cash Fund, which would have be given back to property tax payers in the form of tax relief.
“Nebraska has the sixth-highest property tax rate in the country, which is an enormous burden on this state’s citizens. The County Treasurer’s error directly reduced the money available for providing much-needed property tax relief for hardworking Nebraskans,” Foley said. “There is no telling how long this problem would have continued if my office had not found it.”
The largest accounting error by the treasurer was in regard to the “Semi-Annual Statement” published in January and July each year. The report publishes the amount of money received and disbursed by the county for the past six month period.
Foley said he found over $950,000,000 in misstatements across both six-month periods published by the county treasurer’s office.
“When all is said and done,” Foley said. “The County Treasurer’s accounting was so lacking that she managed to report twice the amount of revenues actually received. According to her, more than $2 billion was collected during 2025. The correct number was a little over $1 billion.”
“Conjuring almost $1 billion out of thin air is hardly a rounding error,” he added.
Foley said that Garver “was completely cooperative during the audit process” and has “pledged immediate action to address the problems.”
The Plains Sentinel has reached out to the county treasurer for comment.
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.