Garfield County, NE tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Treasurer is Tamara L. Hitchcock. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., closed weekends and holidays. The office fax is 308-346-4083 and the email is [email protected].
• •Position in the draw, not price, decides who gets the good parcels here. The rate is fixed at 14 percent and nothing is bid down, so the work is in researching the advertised list before sale day and knowing which parcels to take when your turn comes around.
• •Register early. The $25.00 fee and the completed form, with a W-9, are due by the Thursday before the first Monday in March, which closes the door several days before the sale.
• •Parcels still unsold when the public sale closes are offered under a private tax sale, so the Treasurer can sell certificates over the counter after March. Call the office to ask what remains.
• •Two routes lead to title once a certificate matures. A holder may serve the statutory notice and apply to the Treasurer for a tax deed, or bring a foreclosure action in district court. The county's tax sale page tells investors they will have six months to act after the three year redemption period ends and directs them to their own attorney, because the Treasurer's office will not advise on either route.
• •The county's published notice covers parcels delinquent for the prior year and earlier and cites the notice requirements in Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1802 and 77-1818, so budget for serving notice on owners and lienholders as part of the cost of taking a certificate to deed.

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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