Lancaster County treasurer accused of making nearly $1 billion in accounting errors

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Nebraska state auditor is making more claims against the finances of Lancaster County.

Mike Foley said in a press release on Tuesday that his office uncovered nearly $1 billion in “accounting blunders” in a 35-page report. He said it is a “gross mishandling” of local tax revenues.

“This is a sad day in the treaurer’s office,” Foley said in a press release.

In the report, Foley said Lancaster County treasurer Rachel Garver made nearly $1 billion in misstatements during both of her semi-annual statements in 2025.

“When all is said and done the county treasurer’s accounting was so lacking that she managed to report twice the amount of revenues actually received,” Foley said. “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.”

Foley also said Garver made several additional errors, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in misused funds.

The errors also included distribution of property tax credit money from the state of Nebraska, resulting in an overpayment to every local taxing authority in the county. Foley said this resulted in a more than $1.2 million underpayment to the state from 2023-2025.

“By law, this money should have been returned to the state and placed in the Property Tax Credit Cash Fund to be made available for property tax relief in subsequent years,” Foley said.

Other mistakes highlighted in the report include:

• Commissions retained on Lincoln Airport Authority tax collections were calculated incorrectly, resulting in Lancaster County being underpaid by a total of $214,539 between 2021-2025.
• Distributions of Homestead Exemption to local taxing entities were calculated incorrectly, resulting in overpayments totaling $75,220 to multiple Tax Increment Financing (TIF) projects within three
  municipalities.
• A percentage of the fee from collecting motor vehicle sales and use taxes, totaling $613,076 between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2025, was recorded improperly in the County General Fund, not deposited to the county’s road fund in accordance with a statutory directive adopted over six years ago.

“As the second most populous county in Nebraska, as well as the seat of State government, Lancaster County needs to do better,” Foley said. “I hope that county officials take the findings in this report as seriously as I do. Further audit work by my office will be forthcoming to ensure that corrective measures are taken.”

You can read the full press release here.

Press Release - Lancaster County - Final