Las Vegas – In the recent legislative session, the Consumer Affairs Division was not funded for the 2010-2011 biennium.  As a result, effective June 30, the agency was closed and is no longer accepting complaints.

While the closure represents a significant loss for consumers, another comprehensive consumer complaint resource is available for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Fight Fraud website – http://FightFraud.nv.gov – includes extensive tips on how to prevent fraud and provides downloadable complaint forms to help consumers respond effectively if they become a victim.    The website covers all the key industries: Automotive, Financial, Household, Internet, Real Estate, and more.  Consumers are encouraged to visit it regularly for the latest fraud alerts and to learn how to protect themselves from scams.

Consumers are also still able to get help through other entities such as the Better Business Bureau and small claims court.

In addition, the Fight Fraud Taskforce, the consumer protection group behind the Fight Fraud website, is hosting free seminars about fraud and deceptive trade through the library system, senior centers, and other community groups.  Those seminars are listed on the events page of the website at http://fightfraud.nv.gov/calendar.htm.

KINGMAN – The Mohave County Board of Supervisors approved the FY 2009-2010 Tentative Budget Monday, July 6, at the County Administration Building in Kingman.

A notice of public hearing was given that the Board intends to adopt the Final Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Budget on August 3. The Board will also hold a public hearing on that date to establish tax levy rates which will be adopted on August 17.

The total of Primary Property Taxes for the coming fiscal year is estimated to be $32 million. The county will have approximately $75.1 million in General Fund Expenditures from all revenues.

County Manager Ron Walker thanked the many county departments for “coming together …. (to) understand the realities from a financial standpoint. We did not budget to spend more than we will (generate) in revenues.” In spite of the hits from the state Legislature, “we will be able to live for another year, although we will be at a diminished capacity….”

“At this point, we appear to have dodged major bullets that we were concerned about with the state (Legislature’s) solution of their problems,” Deputy County Manager of Management Services John Timko said. “The (state) budget that has been approved, the part that has not been vetoed, does not include the (threatened) shift of county Vehicle License Tax revenues to fund state K-12 obligation. That would have been a $1 million-plus hit to our revenues. That was not in the version that is passed by the Legislature. What remains that will impact the county General Fund directly is the requirement that the county pay 100 percent for patients sent to the Arizona State Hospital.”