Audit sought on funds for college savings plan

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

State authorities are being asked to investigate possible irregularities in the $2.5 billion College Savings Plan of Nevada.

State Treasurer Kate Marshall said Tuesday she sent legislative leaders a letter asking that an audit be conducted into "discrepancies" she found in some of the fund's contracts handed out under her predecessor, Brian Krolicki.

She plans to detail her concerns today when the Assembly Ways and Means Committee takes up her office's budget in Carson City.

Krolicki, who is now the lieutenant governor, said he believed the fund was managed properly. He also issued a statement late Tuesday saying he has asked Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto to investigate an "administrative contract issue" with the fund.

The concerns focus on payments made to the Rose/Glenn Group, the Reno advertising firm that the state hired in 2002 to market the college savings fund.

The firm was paid $185,000 a year under its four-year contract with the state that ended last June. Upromise Investments Inc., the company that administers the college fund for the state, also has paid Rose/Glenn tens of thousands of dollars to market the fund, and officials want to know whether that money came from state funds.

Valerie Glenn, president and chief executive of the Rose/Glenn firm, said she was surprised by the concerns being raised and pledged her firm's full cooperation in any inquiry.