Nevada legislator criticizes Clark County Treasurer Aston

Thursday, Aug. 21, 1997 | 10:09 a.m.

But Aston says Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, is sore because his name was included on a list of delinquent taxpayers.

O'Donnell sponsored SB308, which starting Oct. 1 will require checks for property tax or other payments to be made out in the name of the office only.

Aston recently ran an ad notifying Clark County residents that their first property tax payments were due Aug. 18 and telling them to make any checks payable to Mark Aston, Clark County treasurer.

"It's bad business policy," O'Donnell said. "He's violating the spirit of the law."

O'Donnell said he sought the change because of a concern that checks could end up in a personal bank account rather than the county's.

Aston said he will make the change for the next property tax payment, due after the law takes effect.

He said there has never been a case where a check made out to the treasurer's office has been deposited to a private account. Deposits are audited each day and any such mistake would be found immediately, he added.

"My own personal opinion is that Sen. O'Donnell passed the bill because he is mad at me," Aston said. "For two consecutive years I published his name as a delinquent taxpayer."

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