New website lists state debtors by name, amount

CARSON CITY -- Want to find out if your neighbor or your employer owes the state money? Better yet, want to find out if you owe money?

Well, that's now possible. State Controller Kim Wallin launched an improved website Friday that lists the debts by name and amount at www.controller.nv.gov . Bottom line: They owe the state more than $72 million.

Wallin is the first to acknowledge that it is not easy finding out the names of debtors in the long list. Some are listed by first names, others alphabetically, and others by no apparent rhyme or reason.

But by November or December, she intends to add a search engine that will make it simple to find out who isn't paying. Within a couple of weeks, Wallin also should have authority to allow debtors to pay what they owe on-line by credit card.

Through the posting of debtors' names, Wallin hopes to encourage them to pay and discourage others from incurring debts.

A quick check of the debtor list does not show many well-known people.

But several members of the Hansen family, frequent Independent American Party candidates, are listed. They have refused to pay fines levied against them by the secretary of state's office for allegedly failing to follow campaign contribution reporting laws.

The controller, a Democrat who faces a tough re-election battle against Republican Barry Herr, denied the timing of the new service has anything to do the election.

Wallin insisted she has wanted to run lists of debtors for a long time but found initial resistance from the attorney general's office over its concern about debtors' rights of privacy.

"It took us six months before we could release these debts because we needed permission from our DAG" or deputy attorney general, she said. "We had to get our DAG to sign-off."

Wallin said the list does not include all debtors, but only those who have been turned over to her office by state agencies for collection. The Department of Taxation last month reported its unpaid debts were $225 million.

But Wallin said her office has found that some agencies, such as the Department of Corrections, never even tried to collect unpaid debts because of lack of staff. She insisted that corrections department bill debtors at least once before turning its list over to her office.

"We find a lot of these people want to pay," she said.

Wallin added she will seek legislation in 2011 to allow her to attach bank accounts of debtors.

The controller's office has agreements with private collection agencies that do the actual debt collection. They receive 11 to 35 percent of what they collect. If people pay their debts on-line by credit or debit card, then all money will go to the state.

Her office does not have the resources to go after the debtors on its own, Wallin said.

The controller is the chief fiscal officer of the state and is responsible for administering the state's accounting system, settling all claims against the state and collecting debts owed to the state.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.