On or before October 1 of each year, the county treasurer shall make a report in writing to the county board setting out a complete list of all real property in the county on which any taxes are delinquent and which was not sold for want of bidders at the last annual tax sale held in such county. It shall be the duty of the county board, at its first meeting held after the making of such report, to carefully examine the same, and while it may direct the issuance of tax sale certificates to the county upon any real property upon which there are any delinquent taxes, it shall, as to all real property upon which taxes are delinquent for three or more years, either enter an order directing the foreclosure of the lien of such taxes as provided in section 77-1901 or enter an order for the county treasurer to issue tax sale certificates to the county covering the delinquent taxes upon such real property, to be foreclosed upon in the manner and at the time provided in sections 77-1901 to 77-1918.

The county board shall have authority to direct the county attorney to commence foreclosure of such liens or certificates or it may designate another attorney to commence such actions, and the county board is authorized to pay any reasonable fee for such foreclosures to be assessed as costs. In the event the county attorney is designated to bring the action, the fee shall be fifty dollars for each cause of action in addition to his or her salary to be retained by him or her, but it shall not be paid to the county attorney until the decree is entered and the property sold pursuant to such decree. No fee shall be allowed the county attorney for such foreclosures in counties having a population of more than one hundred thousand inhabitants.

Any county treasurer, county attorney, or member of the county board who willfully fails, neglects, or refuses to perform the duties imposed by such sections shall be guilty of official misdemeanor and subject to removal from office as provided in sections 23-2001 to 23-2009. If the county board fails to dismiss the county attorney for failure to foreclose liens, the county board shall be removed. Any member of a county board who, upon a motion duly made by one member of such board to remove a county attorney from office who has failed to foreclose liens, does not vote for such motion or any member who votes to retain a county attorney in office after it has been brought to the board's attention that he or she has failed to foreclose liens shall be subject to removal from office as provided in sections 23-2001 to 23-2009.

Source:Laws 1943, c. 176, § 18, p. 619; R.S.1943, § 77-1918; Laws 1961, c. 388, § 1, p. 1183; Laws 1971, LB 743, § 2; Laws 1986, LB 531, § 4; Laws 1992, LB 1063, § 179; Laws 1992, Second Spec. Sess., LB 1, § 152; Laws 1995, LB 488, § 1.

Annotations

Pursuant to this section, a county must choose to foreclose real estate tax liens under either the lien method set forth at section 77-1901 or the certificate method set forth in section 77-1902. County of Seward v. Andelt, 251 Neb. 713, 559 N.W.2d 465 (1997).

Laws 1971, L.B. 743, which amended this section was effective so far as compensation was provided for county attorneys as soon as it could become operative under the Constitution, but fee not payable until property sold pursuant to decree. State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. Holscher, 193 Neb. 729, 230 N.W.2d 75 (1975).

County attorney is obligated to institute and prosecute actions by county to foreclose tax lien. State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. Conover, 166 Neb. 132, 88 N.W.2d 135 (1958).