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StumbleForeclosure fraud fighters exempted from state furloughs
Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009 | 3:33 p.m.
Catherine Cortez Masto
CARSON CITY – Thirty-two Bureau of Consumer Protection employees will be exempt from the state’s one-day a month furlough.
At today’s meeting of the state Board of Examiners, Gov. Jim Gibbons, chairman of the board, initially was “reluctant to vote to circumvent” the Legislature’s call for every state worker to take one day off a month without pay to save money.
But when Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto argued the consumer protection workers are needed to combat the foreclosure scams, which are among the highest rates in the nation, the governor changed his tune. Masto also said only $11,950 would be saved for the state’s general fund during the next six months if the consumer protection employees took the furloughs.
She said the budget of the bureau gets 55.5 percent of its funding from a mill assessment on public utilities and 44.5 percent from the state’s general fund.
Masto said Nevada leads the nation in foreclosure scams. There are 144 cases the consumer staff is pursuing, she said. Some of the companies have 50 to 100 complaints against each of them. Legal action has been filed in 12 cases and 23 are under investigation, she told the board.
The governor complained this request would put state government on a “slippery slope” with other agencies asking for exemptions. He questioned why a legal assistant, a regulatory analyst or an engineer could not take one day off a month without “impacting your scenario.”
He said these employees were different from the Highway Patrol or the state Department of Corrections where exemptions have been permitted because of the concerns for public safety.
Masto said her office sought federal funds to keep the staff on full-time but that request was denied.
Secretary of State Ross Miller, the third member of the examiners board, made the motion to support Masto, who abstained from voting. And Gibbons then seconded the motion and voted for the exemption.
In other action, the board approved a $2.5 million contract for Hershenow & Klippenstein Architects of Reno to provide architectural and engineering services for the new readiness center at the Clark County Armory in Las Vegas. The federal government will pay 67 percent of the cost and state bond financing will cover the remaining 33 percent.
The board also allowed the state Real Estate Division to write off $1.3 million in uncollectible fines imposed since 2000. The fines were assessed by the commissions on real estate, appraisal and common interest communities.
Steven Aldinger, deputy administrator of the division, told the board that some people who were fined walked away from their licenses without paying the penalty. Some who were disciplined were not able to pay the fine.
He said prior to 2008, one person in the division was assigned to collecting the penalties. Now three employees are assigned that duty.
Cy Ryan may be reached at (775) 687 5032 or at cy@lasvegassun.com.
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Why exactly are the state traffic cops exempt from furloughs for "public safety?" There are police and sheriff personnel to address actual crimes in progress. If 4.6% of highway patrol troopers were on furlough at any given moment who would even notice?
The inconsistency with which government policies are applied is staggering. Only certain employees get furloughs, only a small subset of homeowners get loan modifications, only those people that have clunker automobiles can get the $4,500 rebate, some banks get bailed out while others are forced into bankruptcy.
How can a civilized society allow such inequities to persist?
azbycx0918 -- add to your list why the REAL mortgage scammers, the institutions like BofA and MERS, aren't even mentioned. Instead it's just more band-aids so it only looks like the institutions are doing something.
Meantime the status quo is protected.
Here Killer:
http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/224397...
adam188_ -- and? All that link shows is the AGs again protecting the status quo, loan mods -- just about the most stupid thing to do without first making the lender prove its note holder status. Unfortunately, that's still more of the same institutional approach.
The article is in error. The Highway Patrol, along with all other DPS employees, are taking one furlough day each month. Correctional Officers have an exception and do not take furloughs.