Jefferson County, NE tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Treasurer is Leroy Bast, elected to a four year term. The office sits in the courthouse at 411 4th Street, Fairbury, and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Real estate and personal property tax questions go to 402-729-6827; the fax is 402-729-6828.
• •The delinquent parcel list Jefferson County files each February is republished statewide by the Nebraska Department of Revenue, which posts a separate Excel file per county. Jefferson is county number 48. That file is the fastest way to size the sale before the newspaper notice runs, and the Department refreshes it every February.
• •Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1804 has the Treasurer publish the list and notice of sale once a week for three consecutive weeks starting the first week of February, in a legal newspaper designated by the county board, and post a copy in a conspicuous place in the office. Twenty dollars of advertising cost is added to each parcel and collected the same way as tax, so it lands in the amount a purchaser pays.
• •Two paths run from a Jefferson County certificate to title and they are not interchangeable. The holder can serve the statutory notice on the owner and other interested parties and then apply to the County Treasurer for a treasurer's tax deed, or file a foreclosure action in the District Court for Jefferson County. The Clerk of the District Court is at 402-729-6807, and the Register of Deeds, who records the deed, is at 402-729-6819.
• •A Nebraska land bank can enter an automatically accepted bid on a parcel under Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1807. Where that happens the land bank becomes the purchaser and no public auction is held for that parcel, so the offered list can shrink before bidding opens.

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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