Nevada hires auditor to calculate, recoup share of Fossett search cost

CARSON CITY -- Missing adventurer Steve Fossett left behind a "vast" estate, but financially strapped Nevada must come up with a lot of money for the costs of the unsuccessful search to find his remains.

So much that state Emergency Management chief Frank Siracusa told the Legislature's Interim Finance Commission on Wednesday that an independent auditor has been hired to determine if the costs are legitimate.

Siracusa did not tell legislators how much is needed to cover Nevada's share of the Fossett search. He said only that it is "pretty substantial."

In abandoning the search for Fossett in the fall, a National Guard officer told the Review-Journal that helicopter costs alone were $616,000.

State Budget Director Andrew Clinger told legislators that hotel magnate Barron Hilton has given the state $200,000 to cover some of the search costs.

But Assembly Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, questioned why the state does not bill the Fossett estate for all the charges. Neither Siracusa nor Clinger directly answered his question.

Arberry said Fossett was a multimillionaire and Nevada is suffering through an economic crisis that has forced Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Legislature to cut spending by $914 million. Tax revenue has fallen 8.7 percent below projections.

Fossett flew off on Sept. 3 from Hilton's Flying M Ranch, south of Yerington, in a small plane on what was supposed to be a short pleasure flight.

An extensive monthlong search by ground searchers, the National Guard and the Civil Air Patrol turned up no signs of Fossett or his plane. A Civil Air Patrol officer said the federal government covered its share of the costs of the Fossett search.

Planes and helicopters flew repeatedly over a 20,000-square-mile area in an attempt to find him.

A Lyon County sheriff said officials also checked Fossett's credit cards and financial records and were satisfied he did not try to fake his own death.

At the request of his wife, Peggy, a Chicago court on Feb. 15 declared Fossett legally dead.

In making that determination, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Jeffery Malak noted he left a "vast," eight-figure estate, meaning more than $10 million.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.