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Tax Sale Atlas

Merrick County, NE tax sales

How tax lien sales work in Merrick County, seat of Central City: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Nebraska tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Nebraska holds no tax deed auction.
Format
In person
Registration
Pre-register with the treasurer the week before the sale.
County office
(308) 946-2171
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 24, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Merrick County sells delinquent taxes

From lien to deed

Nebraska holds no county tax deed auction. A certificate holder reaches title down one of two roads, and which road is available depends on how much equity is in the parcel. Three years after the date of the tax sale, and after serving the Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1831 notice at least three months in advance, the holder may apply to the county treasurer for a tax deed. That road is open only where 110 percent of the parcel's assessed value at the time of the application, less the amount that would be needed to redeem it, is twenty five thousand dollars or less. Where the equity is larger the holder must instead foreclose the certificate in the district court of the county where the land lies, in the same manner as a real estate mortgage foreclosure. Either step has to be taken within nine months after the expiration of three years from the date of sale, or nine months after two years where the holder is a land bank and the parcel qualifies as vacant and abandoned. Missing the window voids the certificate.

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Merrick County Treasurer's Office
Frequency
annual
Registration
Pre-register with the treasurer the week before the sale.
Next expected
on the first Monday in March, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
Public Delinquent Tax Sale List
When it runs
First Monday in March at 9:00 a.m., in person at the Merrick County Courthouse in Central City. The treasurer states that "The county Tax Sale is held the first Monday in March each year at 9:00 A.M. at the County Courthouse." The most recent sale was held March 2, 2026. The treasurer also states that the "Public sale closes when all parcels are offered for sale, then all delinquent taxes are offered for sale under Private Tax Sale," so anything left unsold stays available over the counter through the year.
Registration and deposit

Pre-register with the treasurer the week before the sale. The packet is a completed Tax Lien Sale registration form with contact information, an IRS W-9, and a blank signed check made out to the Merrick County Treasurer, plus a $25.00 non-refundable registration fee for each representative. The treasurer requires it "no later than the Thursday before the first Monday in March," and one bidder cannot bid for more than one company. Purchases by fax or telephone are not accepted, so the bidder or an authorized representative has to be in the room on sale day.

Sale format and venue
Merrick County runs a live round robin sale at the courthouse. It is not an online auction and it is not a competitive bid. Registered bidders draw numbers, and the treasurer states that "The number drawn shall represent the order in which each investor may bid. Each round shall consist of one choice per bidder; he may purchase or pass." A passed parcel is offered to the next bidder until someone takes it, and the room works down a dollar descending list of the advertised parcels. Bids are called out as taxes due, bidder number, parcel number. Nothing is bid down and no premium is paid: the winner pays the delinquent tax, interest, advertising cost, and any other delinquency assessed to that parcel, and every certificate earns the same statutory 14 percent, so the only variable is which parcels your draw position lets you reach. Payment is by cashier's check or money order; a personal check is accepted only from an investor who has filed a letter of credit from their bank. The treasurer's tax sale page lists a $20.00 fee for each certificate sold and another $20.00 for any reassignment, while the tax sale instructions sheet lists $25.00 per certificate, so confirm the current amount when you register. Parcels in bankruptcy are not sold. The office holds the original certificates for safekeeping and will forward redemption money directly on request. Nebraska Taxes Online carries the county's advertised delinquent list, but the bidding itself happens at the courthouse. In person at the Merrick County Courthouse
Source: Public Tax Sale Information, Merrick County Treasurer· Verified Aug 24, 2026

Merrick County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Merrick County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Public Delinquent Tax Sale List for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Pre-register with the treasurer the week before the sale. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    Nebraska holds no tax deed auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use County Treasurer for the administrative deed, or the sheriff under a district court decree as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Merrick County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Public Delinquent Tax Sale List. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Pre-register with the treasurer the week before the sale. The packet is a completed Tax Lien Sale registration form with contact information, an IRS W-9, and a blank signed check made out to the Merrick County Treasurer, plus a $25.00 non-refundable registration fee for each representative. The treasurer requires it "no later than the Thursday before the first Monday in March," and one bidder cannot bid for more than one company. Purchases by fax or telephone are not accepted, so the bidder or an authorized representative has to be in the room on sale day.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Nebraska due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  4. Set a walk-away number

    Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.

Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases

Two routes reach parcels outside the March sale, and both run through the county treasurer. Any parcel that stayed unsold at the public sale for want of bidders must then be sold at private sale at the treasurer's office to any person who pays the taxes, penalty, and costs; the certificate issued that way is marked sold for taxes at private sale. Separately, where the county board bought a parcel in the county's name because it drew no bidder, the treasurer holds that certificate and may assign it at any time to anyone willing to pay the face amount plus 14 percent interest from the date of the certificate, with the county clerk endorsing the assignment and the twenty five dollar issuance fee due from the buyer. If the parcel lies inside a municipality that has created a land bank, the treasurer must give the land bank the first opportunity to acquire the county's certificate. Ask the county treasurer which parcels are open to private sale and which county held certificates are available for assignment.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Merrick County Treasurer's Office

(308) 946-2171

1510 18th Street, Suite 204, Central City, NE 68826. Mailing address PO Box 27, Central City, NE 68826.

Official website

County notes

  • The delinquent list runs in the local newspaper for three consecutive weeks in February ahead of the sale and is posted online through Nebraska Taxes Online, so the parcel list is public about a month before bidding opens.
  • A certificate buys the delinquent taxes, not the real estate. The treasurer's warning is explicit: "When purchasing a certificate you are purchasing delinquent taxes, not the property," and "The purchaser must research his/her own information to purchase" because there are no refunds.
  • Hold the certificate and pay each following year's taxes as they go delinquent. Redemption pays 14 percent per year from the sale date to the redemption date; the registration fee and the per-certificate fee are not reimbursed.
  • Redemption runs three years. The treasurer's page states that if the owner does not redeem "by the end of three years, you will have six months to foreclose on the property," so the window to act on a matured certificate is narrow and letting it lapse can cost the whole position.
  • Two paths lead to title once redemption expires. A holder can serve the statutory notice and apply to the treasurer for a treasurer's tax deed, or bring a foreclosure action in district court. The office states it "will not provide any guidance or legal advice pertaining to tax sale certificates" and will not advise on foreclosure or notification timelines, so budget for a Nebraska attorney before your certificates mature.
  • Public, private, and county tax sale certificates may be assigned, and the treasurer charges a fee to process a reassignment.
  • Deeds are recorded with the Merrick County Register of Deeds, a separate office from the treasurer in the same courthouse.

Nebraska rules

Max interest rate
14% per year, fixed by statute (nothing is bid)
Minimum return
No statutory floor; every certificate earns the same statutory rate
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.
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.
Governing statute
Neb. Rev. Stat. Chapter 77, Article 18 (77-1801 et seq.)

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.

See the full Nebraskarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Merrick County, Nebraska sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax lien certificates. In Nebraska investors buy the lien, not the property; the County Treasurer runs the sale.

When is the Merrick County tax certificate sale?

First Monday in March at 9:00 a.m., in person at the Merrick County Courthouse in Central City. The treasurer states that "The county Tax Sale is held the first Monday in March each year at 9:00 A.M. at the County Courthouse." The most recent sale was held March 2, 2026. The treasurer also states that the "Public sale closes when all parcels are offered for sale, then all delinquent taxes are offered for sale under Private Tax Sale," so anything left unsold stays available over the counter through the year. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Merrick County hold tax deed sales?

Merrick County holds its tax deed sale none. Nebraska holds no tax deed auction. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Nebraska's redemption rule: 3 years from the tax sale before the holder may apply for a treasurer's tax deed, and the owner may redeem right up to the day that application is filed. Call the County Treasurer for the administrative deed, or the sheriff under a district court decree as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Merrick County tax sale list?

Merrick County posts its tax sale list at nto.us. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

Verified Aug 24, 2026 against official county and state sources.

Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.

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Call Merrick County Treasurer's Office