Burt County, NE tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Burt County Treasurer sells tax sale certificates in person, in the boardroom on the second floor of the courthouse at 111 North 13th Street in Tekamah, on the first Monday in March at 9:00 a.m. There is no online bidding for this sale.
• •Certificates go by rotation, not auction. Bidders draw numbers, bidder one picks first, and each round every bidder in turn takes one parcel or passes. Passed parcels roll to the next bidder until they are taken. Order of the draw, not the size of your bid, decides what you get.
• •Budget for two fees on top of the taxes: $25 non-refundable to register each company or individual, and $20 non-refundable for every certificate issued. Reassigning a certificate later costs another $20.
• •The delinquent list runs in the Burt County Independent for three consecutive weeks in February. The Treasurer also posts the list in PDF and Excel on the county tax sale page, and parcel detail can be looked up by parcel number on Nebraska Taxes Online and on the county's gWorks parcel viewer.
• •A certificate is a lien, not the property. Subsequent taxes may be paid as they go delinquent on May 1 and September 1 during the life of the certificate, and the office asks for a list of parcel numbers and certificate numbers with those payments. On redemption the Treasurer sends the redemption receipt and a check covering the investment plus 14 percent from the sale date to the redemption date.
• •After three years an unredeemed certificate can be taken to title two ways: apply for the treasurer's tax deed after serving the statutory notice, or foreclose in district court at your own expense. The Treasurer does not track the statutory time limits, sends no reminders, and gives no legal advice on either path, so line up your own attorney early. If you file a foreclosure, you must notify the Treasurer's office, and notify it again for any motion or order dismissing the action.
• •The County Clerk serves as ex officio Register of Deeds and handles recording, at 111 North 13th Street, Suite 8, Tekamah, NE 68061, phone (402) 374-2955.

Nebraska rules

Max interest rate

14% per year, fixed by statute (nothing is bid)Neb. Rev. Stat. 45-104.01 - Interest; political subdivisions; delinquent taxes; special assessmentsNeb. Rev. Stat. 45-104.01Verified Aug 23, 2026

Minimum return

No statutory floor; every certificate earns the same statutory rateNeb. Rev. Stat. 45-104.01 - Interest; political subdivisions; delinquent taxes; special assessmentsNeb. Rev. Stat. 45-104.01Verified Aug 23, 2026

Redemption

Nebraska does not run a redemption clock that simply expires. The right to redeem stays open until the certificate holder files the application for a tax deed with the county treasurer, and the treasurer may not accept a redemption after the close of business on the day that application arrives. Because the holder cannot apply until three years after the sale, and must first serve a notice at least three months before applying that says in sixteen point type UNLESS YOU ACT YOU WILL LOSE THIS PROPERTY, the ordinary parcel carries a redemption window of about three years and three months and the owner gets a written warning inside it. Several conditions of the parcel or of its owner change that window, and they are recorded as tracks below. On the foreclosure road the window is different again: redemption stays open until the district court confirms the sheriff's sale.Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1824 - Real property taxes; redemption from sale; when and how madeNeb. Rev. Stat. 77-1824Verified Aug 23, 2026

Surplus proceeds

Nebraska returns the owner's equity on both roads. On the administrative road, within thirty days after the deed is recorded the grantee must pay the surplus to the previous owner. The surplus is the resale price if the grantee has already sold the parcel, or the assessed value shown in the county assessor's records at the time of the deed application if the grantee has not, less the amount that would have been needed to redeem the parcel, less the amount needed to pay all encumbrances on it, and less an administrative fee of five hundred dollars, or reasonable attorney fees in the case of a judicial foreclosure, which the grantee may keep to offset the cost of getting the deed. On the foreclosure road, any surplus remaining after all costs and taxes on a parcel are satisfied is applied the way surplus is applied in a mortgage foreclosure, and proceeds from one parcel may not be applied to the taxes on another except as the decree directs.Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1838 - Real property taxes; issuance of treasurer's tax deed; execution, acknowledgment, and recording; effect; lien for special assessments; pay surplus to previous ownerNeb. Rev. Stat. 77-1838Verified Aug 23, 2026

Governing statute

Neb. Rev. Stat. Chapter 77, Article 18 (77-1801 et seq.)Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1801 - Real property taxes; collection by sale; whenNeb. Rev. Stat. 77-1801Verified Aug 23, 2026

A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.

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