LINCOLN- Nebraska’s s recently appointed state treasurer announced Monday that he is closing a satellite “outreach” office in Omaha, criticized as hard-to-find for the public. State Treasurer Tom Briese, a former state senator appointed to the post in September, issued a press release announcing the closing in the spring of an unclaimed property outreach office at 111 S. 181st St. in the Elkhorn area.

Briese said technology will allow his staff to handle claims for unclaimed property more efficiently, and without the $66,000-a-year lease required of the Omaha office, located in an upper hallway of the United Republic Bank building. “I aim to be a good steward of taxpayer money, and this closure reflects this commitment,” Briese said. The office was opened by then-State Treasurer John Murante in 2019.

Critics panned the little-known, out-of-the-way office as ineffective in reaching the public, and probably more about allowing Omaha-area workers, like Murante, to avoid commuting to the Treasurer’s Office at the State Capitol. The Treasurer’s Office has operated a public outreach office in the Haymarket, which includes a storage vault, for several years. That office, in a high pedestrian traffic area, is unaffected by the announcement.

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