Clark County officials decided Friday to withdraw a $250,000 emergency grant they had offered to help bail out the troubled Economic Opportunity Board, saying the social service organization had failed to commit to grant conditions.

County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said the decision was partially based on the discovery that the financially shaky board has "really serious issues" with the Internal Revenue Service.

"They weren't paying their payroll taxes," she said.

Atkinson Gates said she thinks the board should be allowed to die and its programs for low-income residents should be taken over by other agencies.

"We have bent over backwards trying to help them (the board), but I don't know how we're going to save them in the light of everything that's happened," Atkinson Gates said.

One of the grant's requirements was that the organization's administrative staff and programs be evaluated. County officials recommended a new chief executive officer be brought on board to fulfill that requirement, though Executive Director Lester Murray had been at the board's helm only since January and said he hadn't been given adequate time to address its problems.

Murray, other board staffers and community members spoke out against bringing in a new CEO. Murray threatened to resign earlier this week in protest. On Wednesday, Tracy Cotton withdrew his name from consideration for the CEO's job.

In March, the city of Las Vegas gave a $200,000 emergency grant to the board. That grant had no conditions attached to it.

The nonprofit organization manages more than two dozen local social programs, including senior day care, transportation for the frail and elderly, and substance abuse treatment and food programs.

It has been investigated by state and federal officials in recent years because of mismanagement of funds and other administrative problems. It also lost the $12.6 million federal Head Start early childhood development program after officials said the board wasn't providing adequate health care to the low-income children.

Murray has said the Economic Opportunity Board is about $2 million in debt and is struggling to pay bills and meet payroll expenses.

He could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

Atkinson Gates called for the emergency grant in March, saying the board provides a "safety net" for the community.

The grant's guidelines also required that the board sell its community radio station, KCEP-FM, 88.1.

Community members said they did not want the radio station to be sold and were planning to raise funds to prevent the sale. Several said they felt they were being "held hostage" by the county's grant.

Six members of the agency's board resigned last week so it could be reconstituted in partial fulfillment of the grant guidelines.

Assistant County Manager Darryl Martin, who was named chairman of the agency board on Wednesday, and state Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, also resigned from the board Friday.

Atkinson Gates said she will work with state officials to ensure that the agency's programs for the "community's most vulnerable citizens" continue. The board receives millions of dollars in funding from the state.

The grant withdrawal and resignations of Horsford and Martin leave the agency's leadership and future in even greater limbo. Only three board members remain: Las Vegas City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, the Rev. Marion Bennett and Linda Harris. Two business executives who were asked to join the board this week declined.