Platte, Colfax counties to continue sharing veterans service office (2024)

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of an interlocal agreement between Platte and Colfax counties to share a single veterans service office, primarily based in Columbus, to provide assistance to veterans and their families.

Prior to the agreement, Colfax County employed a single veterans service officer who worked part-time and when that individual decided it was time to retire, the neighboring counties came to an agreement wherein Colfax County would pay a portion of the costs associated with the office and their veterans would have access to a full-time veterans service officer.

“A lot of the Colfax County veterans were already coming to our office because we're there full time,” said Eric Mullally, who has served as the Platte County veterans service officer since 2011. “So we had already a pretty lengthy clientele and so we entered into an agreement with Colfax County that Platte County would provide veterans services to the veterans of Colfax County.”

The agreement between Platte and Colfax counties was updated once in 2019 and again this week. The initial agreement was that Colfax County would pay Platte County $20,000 a year for office staff and 25% of the budget. In the latest update, the office staff amount went up to $30,000 a year, while still paying 25% of the budget.

Mullallyspends Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at an office in the Colfax County Courthouse in Schuyler.

“So the benefit to Colfax County is, before where they had a part-time service officer, they now have access to a full-time veteran service office, because they can call our office Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, and then I do have office hours over here,” Mullally said. “So it works out pretty good for everybody. Platte County, you know, we're saving money because we're working together and Colfax has helped covering costs of our budgeted items, and then Colfax gets a full-time service office.”

According to the veterans service office 2023 annual report, last year veterans of Platte and Colfax counties were collectively approved for monthly payments in the amount of $135,881.45. Multiplied by a full 12 months, that’s $1.6 million coming into the counties.

In 2023, area veterans also received $760,842.91 in retroactive compensation claims. That is, once a claim is filed, if it is approved, the claimant will not only receive compensation going forward, but they also receive the compensation they would have received had their claim been approved right when they filed it.

Claim approvals can take anywhere from three months to a year if there is an appeals process.

“New claims are coming in … those come back in 90 to 180 days, and that’s pretty good, because when I first started it was taking about a year, give or take,” Mullally said. “Appeals is where there’s a significant backlog where veterans have to wait way longer than they should.”

In addition to regular access to the office and help filling out paperwork, veterans in Colfax County can also take advantage of a free car service provided by the counties. Volunteers drive veterans who are traveling to receive care at a Nebraska VA hospital or care center to and from their appointments.

“So we pick up veterans and take them to their VA appointments and it's a free service provided by the county,” Mullally said. “The VFW donated us two vehicles— we have a Chevy Equinox and we have a Dodge Grand Caravan —and we have volunteer drivers that basically go pick the vets up, take them to their VA appointments, wait for them, bring them back. It's like a free shuttle service.”

Mullally urges all veterans to contact the office to see what benefits they might be eligible for, even if they were previously denied. Congress often adds disabilities and injuries to the list of ailments that service members can receive benefits for.

A recent example is the passing of the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, or PACT Act. Congress allocated nearly $800 billion to improve healthcare access and funding for veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during military service.

Much like with Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide made infamous for its use during the Vietnam War, when veterans who filed disability claims were for decades denied at an alarmingly high rate, nearly 80% of disability claims for toxins from burn pits used during conflicts from the first Gulf War through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were denied from 2007 to 2020, according to data from the VA.

The PACT Act removed the requirement that veterans prove that burn pits caused their illness and gives retroactive pay to veterans who did not receive care for their illnesses after initially claiming disability.

The PACT Act also covers veterans who were exposed to and injured by the toxins in the water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

“Due to the laws that are always changing, it's always advisable for (veterans) to check in with the veterans office and see if their eligibilities have changed,” Mullally said. “Military service comes with a lot of hazards and finally the government is acknowledging those hazards and the detrimental effect that's having on our veterans and finally doing the right thing and helping them get benefits.”

Mullally said that one Vietnam veteran he assisted had filed a disability claim years ago for exposure to Agent Orange, and after the PACT Act passed, they resubmitted his claim.

“They went back to when he originally filed and he ended up getting a $250,000 retroactive payment,” Mullally said. “He waited a long time and by the time he got that money, I mean, it was a blessing for the family, but he has dementia now, so it’s not like he’s going to be able to enjoy it, but it’s going to help his family take care of him and provide for them.”

Being able to make a positive impact like that for a veteran or their family is “one of the beautiful things about our job,” Mullally said.

Not every claim is as dramatic as with the veteran who received a quarter of a million dollars, but that doesn’t mean the impact it can have on a person isn’t just as meaningful.

Mullally told another story about a World War II veteran from Colfax County whose wife had passed away and he was living off Social Security. He barely had enough money each month for food.

Mullally helped him file a pension application and a hearing loss and tinnitus disability claim due to the noise he was exposed to during the war.

“The first decision we got back on there was for his pension application and they approved it,” Mullally said. “They were going to give him $500 a month and he got the notice, he's like, ‘this isn't real, what's going on?’ And he tried to call the VA and told them, ‘no, this is too much money,’ and he was trying to send the money back. It took the VA rep in my office telling him, ‘this is your money, you've earned it, you served your country and use that money to buy your groceries, you know, whatever you need.’”

Mullally and the WWII veteran went through the same thing later when the disability claim for the hearing loss was approved.

“I think he was getting about $1,500 a month for his disability benefit and that was another one, he called the VA, ‘this is too much, I can't accept this,’” Mullally said. “And so he came in and I said, ‘no, you earned were in this, this is yours, do with it what you want, pay your bills, do your grocery shopping, and he's like, ‘well, I'll save it for my funeral.’”

Veterans might also be entitled to a homestead exemption based on injury or disability incurred while serving, which could drastically lower the amount they pay in property tax, Mullally said.

Ultimately, it’s up to each veteran to contact their local veterans service office, but once they do, the staff is there to help them receive the benefits they earned.

“When they come in we fill out all the paperwork for them, it's pretty painless, they just have to come in and sign your name, answer questions so I can fill it out for them,” Mullally said. “The outcomes that we have, I mean, they can be life-changing, very beneficial to the veteran and their families.”