Former Official Penalized For Illegally Raising Her Pay

Aug. 15, 2022, 2 p.m. ·

Excerpt from Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission decision
Excerpt from Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission decision

Listen To This Story

A former Nebraska township official will have to pay a penalty for having illegally raised her pay.

In 2019, Elkhorn Township in Dodge County near Fremont flooded, severely damaging roads and resulting in lots of extra work for members of the township board. That job normally pays $600 a year, but the three-member board voted to pay its members an extra $1,000 a week for 33 weeks.

The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission said that violated state law against using public office for financial gain. Commission Executive Director Frank Daley said that’s true even though the board has the legal power to determined how much its members are paid.

“The compensation is set by the board. But it’s set for the year at an annual meeting. So once it’s set for the year, it can’t be changed,” Daley said.

The Commission voted Friday to order former township board member Jody Delaney pay a civil penalty of $1,300.

Former members Jeremy Moss and Nancy Schlotfeld had previously agreed to repay the $33,000 in extra pay, but Daley said Delaney and her family had been evicted from their farm and there was no reasonable expectation she could repay the money. He also said there were mitigating circumstances, including that Delaney had made a good faith effort to question the propriety of the payments and had reported them to the state auditor.

An attempt to reach Delaney’s attorney for comment was not successful.