When it can least afford it, state might refund millions

By Cy Ryan (contact)

Friday, Nov. 28, 2008 | 2 a.m.

As the state grapples with a $300 million budget shortfall, the state Tax Commission will meet Monday to decide whether to grant a $70 million refund to Southern California Edison.

It’s not the only expensive claim the commission is grappling with.

Dino DiCianno, executive director of the state Taxation Department, said he has been meeting with the governor’s and the state attorney general’s staff to determine a way to avoid refunding $200 million to Nevada casinos and other business that paid taxes on free meals given to guests and employees.

“It’s not a pretty picture,” DiCianno said of the hundreds of millions of dollars in claims against the state.

But first the commission must rule on a May 2005 refund granted to Southern California Edison in a meeting behind closed doors.

The attorney general’s office filed suit, arguing that the commission violated the Open Meeting Law. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed, nullifying a $40 million refund that has been gathering 6 percent interest since the dispute began.

“Here we go again,” said Norman Azevedo, a Carson City lawyer representing Southern California Edison.

Nevada taxes out-of-state coal, but exempts coal and other minerals mined in the state. Southern California Edison operated the Mohave power plant near Laughlin by importing out-of-state coal, but argued it was entitled to the exemption.

DiCianno says the tax commission, meeting in Las Vegas, will make a decision on this case Monday.

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More than 22,000 elderly Nevadans received help with food and transportation last fiscal year thanks to money from the Tobacco Settlement Fund. The assistance was aimed at helping them to continue living in their own homes.

Advocates for these citizens are lining up to battle a proposed bill in the 2009 Legislature that would eliminate program funding.

Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki has proposed selling off the state’s tobacco settlement money. The state would receive about $1.2 billion over the next 20 years to help deal with Nevada’s deepening fiscal crisis.

“We’re going to fight this tooth and nail,” said Janice Ayres, president of the Nevada Senior Corps Association.

The 1999 Legislature created the program, which allocates 15 percent of settlement dollars to the state Aging Services Division to help seniors continue living independently.

Carol Sala, administrator of the division, said about $5 million is dispensed each year. Five grants went to Catholic Charities in Clark County for such things as meals on wheels, senior companionship and at-home assistance.

But Krolicki said his proposal would aid seniors because many of them are covered by Medicaid, which provides health care for seniors and others. The state may not have enough money to cover these citizens without additional funds.

Ayres said the state benefits by keeping seniors in their homes, rather than in nursing homes where the cost can be tens of thousands of dollars per year.