LINCOLN, Neb. (KSNB) – The Nebraska State Auditor released a report Friday morning that accuses the state’s Wheat Board of consistently overspending taxpayer funds on meals and travel.
Auditor Mike Foley said in a report that in just over two years, the board spent nearly $17,000 in food to feed its seven members and three employees during travel and board meetings – although some of those funds were spent also to host trade teams while promoting Nebraska’s wheat industry.
Auditor Foley’s report also stated that the amount of money being spent per year on meals was unreasonably high, with the group spending $9,173.15 in 2023 and $5,630.50 in 2024. The report also mentioned that the board spent $2,157.81 on meals in the first two months of 2025 alone.
“The size of these aggregate costs is particularly surprising,” Foley wrote, “considering that no more than 10 people serve on and work for the Wheat Board.”
According to Foley’s office, the state will pay someone (through a per-diem) around $20 per meal per person. The report stated that on one occasion, the Wheat Board used a government card to spend $137.44 per person for 10 people at an Omaha steak house.
The report also brings up other questionable expenses, like someone being reimbursed $176 for a parking garage at Eppley Airfield when they could have parked for $48 in the economy lot, and $80 and $104 in the covered or garage rooftop alternatives.
Foley also brought up that a Wheat Board member was reimbursed $1,621.13 for driving to a conference in Texas from their home in western Nebraska, when the audit team calculated that it would have been less than half that to fly.
According to the report, the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services has taken “extraordinary action” of placing restrictions on the Wheat Boards purchasing card.
We have reached out to the Wheat Board for comment and are awaiting a response.
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