Buffalo County Veteran Service Office

The office. Buffalo County's Veteran Service Office is in the courthouse, 1512 Central Ave, Kearney (mail: PO Box 1270, Kearney, NE 68848), phone 308.236.1253, [email protected], open Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; appointments are preferred and walk-ins are welcome. The Veteran Service Officer is Matthew Starkey, with assistant service officer Kollin Forney and office manager Linda Jones, per the county's page and the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs' directory (updated October 26, 2026). The office "exists to aid and assist all Buffalo County veterans and their families in obtaining federal, state, and county veteran benefits"; the officer serves under the Veterans' Service Committee and is appointed by the Board of Commissioners. It lists, among its most frequent services, VA disability compensation, county and state veterans' aid, the homestead exemption, VA loan guaranty, DD-214s and military records, VA health care, Nebraska Veterans Homes applications, VA Aid & Attendance, Nebraska Game & Parks permits for veterans and veteran honor license plates. What the office does itself. Its County VA Benefits page names four services beyond claims: - Homestead exemption: "Annually, the Buffalo County Veterans Service Office obtains a letter from the VA Regional Office that establishes who are eligible veterans (or widows) for a tax exemption on their personal residence. These letters are provided to the County Assessor." The exemption is the State's (see the Nebraska entries). - Registration of DD-214s: the county records a certified copy of the veteran's separation document, and "Once recorded the veteran may call us from any where in the world and we will provide them with a 'certified copy' when needed." The County Clerk's fee schedule lists filing of a military discharge at no fee. - Grave registration: on notice of a veteran's burial in the county the office completes a grave registration card, keeps a copy and sends the original to the Nebraska Department of Veterans' Affairs, "We also order a 'Presidential Memorial Certificate' for the family of all deceased Buffalo County veterans." - Bronze grave flag holders: the office provides a flag holder reflecting the veteran's wartime era and "annually inventories these flag holders to insure they remains on the correct grave and we replace damaged markers." On October 13, 2026 the committee approved veteran grave markers for the Pleasanton Cemetery, and on May 12, 2026 the officer presented a list of veterans killed in action, missing in action or who died in service buried in Buffalo County cemeteries, a project to identify more of them that is ongoing. The committee and the Board's year. The five-member Veterans Service Committee (chair Tom McCoy) meets monthly at 4 p.m. in the Board room and posts its agendas and minutes on the office's meetings page; the Board's 2026 representatives on it are Commissioners Myron Kouba, Ivan Klein and Bill Maendele. The Board signed the Nebraska Department of Veterans' Affairs' memorandum of understanding giving the office access to the department's web-based database (October 28, 2025), adopted Resolution 2025-65 designating Buffalo County a Green Light for Veterans County for November 4-11, 2025 and put the 2026 resolution on its October 27, 2026 agenda, and authorized a $12,000 petty cash fund for the Veteran's Service Office (Resolution 2026-42, September 22, 2026). The officer briefed the committee on the veteran-centred bills of the 2026 session, among them LB1072's proposed transfer from the State's Veterans' Aid fund, and warned it in March 2026 of scam emails asking veterans to sign a release of information.