Sarpy County nonprofit says county treasurer demands $13,000 after exemption filing dispute

Volunteers from Neighbor Good Community Pantry told the Sarpy County Board of Equalization on June 24 that the nonprofit faces a sudden tax bill of about $13,000 after county staff said the group’s exemption application covered 2025 taxes, not 2024.

The pantry’s volunteer treasurer, Bill Conley, said the nonprofit — which incorporated as a 501(c)(3) — closed on a building on Dec. 30, 2024, and filed Form 451, the exemption application, the same day. Conley said the county assessor’s office initially approved the filing for 2024; the county treasurer is now insisting it applies to 2025 and is demanding that the pantry pay more than $13,000.

The pantry’s board president, Andrea Powers, told commissioners the bill would eat into the pantry’s food budget and programs. Powers said $13,000 is roughly 14.4% of the pantry’s annual food costs and would equal about 10½ months of the nonprofit’s MEC program that provides a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs and a pound of cheese for families of four.

Volunteer Joe Chase, a Sarpy County real estate broker who assisted the pantry with its location search, described an inconsistent local practice he called the “Douglas/Sarpy standard” for how closing companies and county offices treat tax allocations, a practice he said complicates offers and can shift a seller’s tax obligation to a buyer.

Conley said the closing statement prepared by the title company allocated only 2023 taxes at closing, and that the pantry paid those taxes and two days’ worth of taxes at closing. He said he filed Form 451 with the assessor’s office the day the purchase closed and listed 2024 as the year to be exempted. He told the board the assessor’s office approved the filing but the treasurer now claims the filing applies to 2025.

Powers described rising local need for food assistance and said the pantry served nearly 9,000 people last year, a 128% increase from four years prior. She cited Food Bank of the Heartland statistics the pantry uses in planning: 9.2% food insecurity in 2023, 12.7% in 2024 and 13.8% so far in 2025. Powers said losing the $13,000 would delay building improvements, postpone commercial refrigeration that would expand fresh-produce distribution and reduce staff capacity for grants and fundraising.

Conley asked the board to “rectify this” and prevent the county treasurer from enforcing the larger tax demand against the nonprofit. The board did not take formal action on the matter during the meeting; Conley and two other pantry volunteers said they would follow up with county staff and commissioners.

The pantry provided a one‑page white paper to the board at the meeting and said it would welcome guidance on next steps. County staff at the meeting noted Form 451 and county procedures govern exemption filings and deadlines; Conley said he believes the county’s regulations require an exemption form to be filed by Nov. 15 for the applicable year, a timing requirement he said made compliance before closing impractical.

The matter was raised during the public comment period; commissioners said they would follow up and, later in the meeting, discussed scheduling a public hearing so the pantry and county staff could present facts and options.