TONOPAH -- Nye County Treasurer Gary Budahl agreed with county commissioners that a deputy treasurer should be hired to coordinate a tax sale, but he didn't think commissioners needed to pass a resolution mandating his office hold a tax sale every year.

The delay in auctioning properties seized by Nye County for non-payment of taxes was an issue in the 2006 campaign for county treasurer. The county can seize property after three years due to non-payment of taxes. A title report then has to be prepared, property owners notified and a sale advertised.

Budahl told commissioners last week a sale has already been scheduled in April 2008. There would be a sale in both Pahrump and Tonopah.

The county began advertising for the deputy treasurer position after the commission action last week, whose job will be to coordinate the property auctions. That person will be based in Tonopah, where 95 percent of the records are located, Budahl said, but will have to travel periodically to Pahrump, where 90 percent of the affected properties are located.

The position will be paid out of $450,000 in excess proceeds from the last county tax auction in November 2004, Budahl said. That auction took in almost $1.6 million, he said.

Budahl said coordination of the tax auctions is practically a full-time job, keeping track of the properties deeded as well as a re-conveyance of properties when people pay their taxes. The last deputy treasurer handling the tax sales resigned from the county in November 2004, Budahl said.

"We still are sitting on approximately 800 properties. A good number of them were generated from years way back," Budahl said. "While I have been treasurer, I would say as many properties that have been deeded to the treasurer have been re-conveyed back to the owners."

Budahl was appointed county treasurer in 2005 after Pat Foster suffered medical problems. He was elected to a four-year term Nov. 7, 2006.

The perception Nye County is losing tax revenue by not holding an auction on a timely basis isn't necessarily correct, Budahl said.

"The properties never leave the tax rolls. The taxes continue to be assessed. When the property is sold or refinanced we collect the taxes. The tax money, the collection, might be deferred, it's not lost," Budahl said.

There was a disagreement between Budahl and Commissioner Joni Eastley over whether a resolution was necessary, ordering Budahl to hold a tax sale. Budahl was also upset commissioners didn't wait for him to arrive in the meeting room before taking the vote. Budahl said he arrived at the county courthouse in Tonopah about 9 a.m. and asked county administrative staff to notify him before the vote. He quickly arrived in the meeting room after he was notified of the vote but was too late.

Budahl said he didn't even known about the resolution until the week before the meeting.

"My request to draft this resolution came in response to complaints from the public about the treasurer's office not holding trust sales," Eastley said. "This is directed at ensuring that the process takes place annually regardless of who was in office."

The properties are sold for an amount not less than the taxes due, penalties, interest and other costs.