Nye County wants to collect its unpaid room tax penalties
Following a focused audit on Nye County’s Room Tax Fund, which revealed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid late fees over the course of three years, Nye County District Attorney Brian Kunzi promised a full investigation - but that is apparently not to be. Instead, the county has authorized its staff to pursue collection of these late payment penalties. In an effort to ensure the situation does not repeat itself, the Nye County Treasurer’s Office is also implementing new policies and procedures aimed at keeping a closer eye on room tax revenues.
During the Nye County Commission’s Wednesday, Sept. 3 meeting, the board addressed an item regarding a series of corrective actions that have been and are being taken as a result of the room-tax-focused audit. A report detailed changes in how the treasurer’s office is processing mail, adjustments in employee responsibilities and updated payment solutions, all intended to improve the room tax payment process.
Nye County Treasurer Raelyn Powers outlined several additional measures not included on the report, which her office has put in place to prevent something of this nature from happening again. These include revamped Excel worksheets to provide better clarity, a separate worksheet specifically for tracking room tax payment penalties and updates to forms available online.
“Full disclosure and transparency is provided to the towns,” Powers stated. “Every document that our department receives and crosses our desk is now shared with the [associated] town… Email notifications are sent when penalties are assessed – the towns are now including those in email communications. Additional follow-up with penalties with phone calls and letters are also tracked on our penalty worksheet.”
Powers noted that additional training is currently in progress, as well, with multiple staff members tasked with handling the administration of room taxes.
With corrective actions in place, Nye County Manager Brett Waggoner said it was up to the board as to whether or not it would like to pursue collection of the unpaid late fees and related interest. “Because there is a limitation on how far we can go back to collect, of two years,” Waggoner noted.
Commissioner Ian Bayne then questioned what would happen if the board decided to take no action, to which Waggoner replied, “If there is direction, then there is direction. If there is no direction, then we quit talking about it and move on.”
Commissioner Ron Boskovich then jumped in to press, “Do we know why this happened?”
“No, not exactly,” Waggoner replied. “Other than procedures possibly weren’t in place to monitor what was going on in that office… If there was a formal procedure, it probably wouldn’t have gone unnoticed for three years.”
Boskovich was clearly frustrated by that answer but commissioner Debra Strickland was ready to move on. With the county already spending $28,000 and many hours on the issue, she said she felt it would be prudent to recoup that money, making a motion to direct staff to impose collections for all penalties and interest as allowed by law. Commissioner John Koenig provided a second and the motion passed 4-0. With a personal relation apparently involved in the situation, commissioner Bruce Jabbour made the decision to recuse himself from the item.
The room-tax-focused audit was conducted earlier this year by longtime contracted county auditor Dan McArthur and covered the years 2021-2024. Included was room tax revenue for Amargosa, Beatty, Gabbs, Manhattan, Pahrump and Tonopah. The bulk of the unpaid late fees, which came to $86,755 in the three audited years, went unpaid by transient lodging facilities in Tonopah. However, as Waggoner had pointed out, if collected, the unpaid fees will not go solely to the county. Portions go to the state, tourism and the town where the fees were generated, as well.
Future amendments to Nye County Code will be forthcoming, as recommended by the focused audit.
Readers can find previous coverage on this topic at pvtimes.com
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
