DA: County owed more than $900,000

Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005 | 7:42 a.m.

The district attorney's office claims GKT Aquisitions owes Clark County more than $900,000 from two land exchanges between the company and the Aviation Department in 2000 and 2001.

The alleged shortchanging was discovered by a review conducted by the Clark County Audit Department on several property exchanges involving land owned by the county and managed by the Aviation Department.

A Nov. 30 letter from Deputy District Attorney Holly Gordon to Scott Gragson of GKT claims it owes the county $907,983 for two land exchanges on Nov. 21, 2000, and Aug. 7, 2001.

Gragson did not return phone calls from the Sun on Friday.

Gragson's company has been at the center of a county audit into such property deals.

The airport had been selling land under the airport's flight paths, but many of those deals have been controversial because developers have been able to quickly turn large profits. The question raised by critics is if the county was getting appropriately compensated for the land.

Gragson's company has been the most prolific in making deals for airport land.

The county audit looking at the situation is expected to come out next week.

In the county's letter to Gragson, Gordon claims GKT was unintentionally given 70 acres and only charged for 65 in the 2000 deal. With interest, that payment shortfall for the additional five acres now adds up to $532,128, the letter said.In the 2001 deal, Gordon claims GKT was unintentionally given 2.5 acres without paying for it. The deputy district attorney says with interest, GKT owes the county $375,855 for that deal.

GKT can resolve the matter by sending a certified check for the outstanding amount to the county treasurer by Dec. 30, Gordon said.

However, she would not comment on what might occur if GKT fails to pay by the deadline.

Gordon said as of Friday there had been no response from Gragson.

Matt Pordum can be reached at 474-7406 or at pordum@lasvegassun.com.