State auditor lays some blame for ballooning property taxes bills on broad use of TIF funding [Video]

AUBURN, Neb. (KOLN) – State Auditor Mike Foley cast his gaze at a small city in southeast Nebraska, calling Auburn out for what he said was improper collection of tax increment financing, or TIF, money.

“The city of Auburn over-collected the amount of TIF dollars that they were legally entitled to collect, and those dollars really should have gone off to local units of government,” Foley said during an interview on Wednesday.

It made headlines earlier this week: Auburn turned $658,003 over to Nemaha County, but city leaders told 10/11 that they didn’t do anything wrong.

“Everybody’s going to interpret it the way they want to interpret. It’s written that way,” Mayor Chris Erickson said. “But I think at the end of the day everybody is is is pleased with the outcome. we didn’t admit any wrongdoing by turning that money back.”

Auburn uses TIF a little differently than some of the projects in Lincoln; whereas those use the increment from a …