By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

The City Council voted Tuesday to eliminate the city’s public information officer position, and reduce the amount spent on both golf course maintenance and additional-duty pay for police officers.

The cuts go into effect Nov. 17 and are part of the second phase of budget adjustments outlined by City Manager Vicki Mayes. The changes are being made because of a shortfall of about $1.6 million that was supposed to come from a lease agreement with SolBio Energy.

The company signed a lease with the city in December to build a solar plant in Eldorado Valley but never obtained financing. Mayes issued SolBio a notice of default on Oct. 6 which the company had 30 days to address from the time of receipt.

“At this point, I’m not optimistic that the project will be moving forward with (SolBio),” Mayes said.

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By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

The city has opened dialogue with a California-based company that wants to take over the terms of a lease agreement that SolBio Energy has not been able to honor.

If successful, the deal could bring the city about $3 million in lease revenue and prevent layoffs and the elimination of non-essential services.

SolBio Energy, a Canadian-based startup, signed a lease agreement with the city in December to build a 2,200-acre photovoltaic solar power plant in Eldorado Valley.

SolBio was not able to secure financing for its initial lease payment of $1 million which was due in February.

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By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

The City Council did not approve any disciplinary action for City Manager Vicki Mayes at a special meeting Sept. 9 which was held to address issues related to the illegal out-of-state registration of one of her family’s vehicles.

Mayes and husband Denny Mayes, a retired city employee, received criticism after it was learned Denny Mayes’ car was registered to the Montana limited-liability company, Amayesd.

City Manager Vicki Mayes leaves the City Council chambers Sept. 9 after surviving a 3-2 vote not to terminate her as city manager for issues related to an out-of-state car registration. The council could not reach a consensus on issuing a written or verbal reprimand, either. Councilman Duncan McCoy voted 'no' on all three votes.

Montana is one of a handful of states with no sales tax, so the Mayeses saved thousands of dollars in taxes and fees by registering the 2010 Nissan GT-R out-of-state.

The car has since been registered in Nevada.

After KLAS-TV broke the story, Denny Mayes registered the car in Nevada and paid the taxes and fees.

Many people from all over the country register expensive vehicles in Montana to companies they set up solely for tax-evasion purposes, a practice that’s legal in Montana, and the law firm that set up Amayesd, Bennett Law Office, is one of the leaders in the tax-dodging field.

However, the Mayeses said the car was not registered in Montana to avoid paying Nevada taxes.

Denny Mayes said he set up the company because Montana seemed like a nice place to start a business – though he never could say what type – and it happened to be around the time he was planning on purchasing a car, which he was told would be a good first investment for the company.

Though numerous agencies and experts told the Boulder City Review that living in Nevada but driving a car with an out-of-state registration is illegal, the Mayeses maintained they were told by two attorneys it was legal.

Former Clark Country Commissioner Bruce Woodbury was one of the attorneys the Mayeses said told them the registration was legal, but he later told the Boulder City Review that it is, in fact, a misdemeanor offense.

Former County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury represented Denny Mayes at the hearing.

The Mayeses were confused by what he told them that the registration is legal in Montana, but not once you drive the car to Nevada and live here permanently, Woodbury said.

Because of all the confusion, and the negative attention for the city, Mayor Roger Tobler decided to have the special meeting to address the allegations of improper registration and Vicki Mayes’ involvement, if any.

Woodbury, who spoke at the council meeting on Denny Mayes’ behalf, told the council that the vehicle was, in fact, Denny’s, not Vicki’s, and that it was purchased entirely with his retirement funds and not community funds.

However, the Mayeses previously told the Boulder City Review that Vicki Mayes’ Porsche was traded in to offset the Nissan’s price.

Woodbury also said that Denny Mayes followed the advice that was given to him by a Bennett law office attorney who said the registration was legal in Nevada.

Ironically, the Bennett’s website suggests that clients also check into these kinds of legalities themselves.

“(Denny Mayes) had always been an honest, law-abiding citizen, and that was his reputation among people who know him,” Woodbury said during the hearing.

Woodbury told the council that Vicki Mayes urged her husband not to register the vehicle in Montana because it looked bad, and that once he did, she even refused to ride in the car.

He also said that Vicki Mayes drove the vehicle to work because Denny was too sick to drive her when a relative was borrowing her vehicle.

Woodbury didn’t give any reasons for the handful of other times the Mayeses told the Boulder City Review Vicki used the car.

Woodbury did say Denny and Vicki Mayes were listed in joint tenancy on the incorporation documents for Amayesd- meaning they both have equal ownership – but that Vicki Mayes had not signed anything, and did not know she was listed on the documents until a couple of days before the Sept. 9 meeting. However, in an e-mail from Vicki Mayes to Boulder City Police Chief Thomas Finn dated Aug. 19, she said she found out how the company’s principals were listed Aug. 18.

Woodbury tried to sever any possible ties between Vicki Mayes and what was said to be her husband’s decision.

“People who want to believe the worst will do so regardless of the truth,” Woodbury told the council. “All of this was solely his actions, his decisions, and not his wife.”

Vicki Mayes tried to sever ties with the car, as well.

“I didn’t know any of the details of the cost of the car or even, specifically, where he was getting the car from,” she said.

But for some, the explanation wasn’t enough.

Councilwoman Linda Strickland said she was less worried about the registration violation than how things were handled after the fact, such as Vicki Mayes initially telling a news crew that the registration was both her and her husband’s decision.

Vicki Mayes told the council that her initial reaction was from being tired and unprepared for an interview.

Strickland also questioned a letter Mayes wrote to Boulder City Police officer Craig Tomao about speaking with the Boulder City Review and putting out a press release defending the registration on city letterhead.

“I find there to be some very serious questions of credibility and I have some serious concerns as to how it was handled,” Strickland said.

Councilwoman Linda Strickland during the Sept. 9 hearing

According to Strickland, Vicki Mayes’ handling of the registration is part of a bigger problem with her having bad judgment, such as her failure to collect a surety from SolBio Energy, the company months overdue on its lease payment for a proposed solar plant.

“I see that (lack of judgement) in other elements in the other things of our city and it has always caused me concern,” Strickland said.

But the biggest issue for Strickland, she said, was Vicki Mayes’ failure to provide her with information she had previously requested regarding the registration.

At the meeting, Strickland asked Mayes if she did not provide her requested information because Strickland did not have the authority, or because it was a personal issue. Mayes told her it was personal.

“I feel I can’t trust you with my family’s personal information,” Mayes said. “First of all, it wasn’t’ my information, it was my husband’s … for the past three years you have demonstrated that your primary goal was to get me out of this state … I feel you were adding information to a mind you have already made up.”

Strickland said it was only at this point that she made up her mind to call for Vicki Mayes’ termination, mostly on the grounds of insubordination, but also because she was concerned about the implied message of preferential treatment stemming from neither of the Mayeses being cited by police, which knew about the registration, and also because of the email to Tomao.

“I think the insubordination is at the top, but her handling of employees is probably right underneath it,” Strickland said. “If it was just one thing, I probably would not call for termination, but it was a number of things that have an undertone of lack of credibility.”

Strickland also revealed at the meeting that she hired a private investigator to research the registration, discovering that the car was purchased in Nebraska, registered with only 11 miles on it, and that Amayesd was created for the purpose of real and personal property.

Through a Freedom of Information Act e-mail request, Strickland discovered that Police Chief Thomas Finn had become involved with helping Vicki Mayes craft her press release.

Strickland did get one supporting vote in favor of Mayes’ termination from Councilman Travis Chandler, but not enough for any action.

“This is a personnel matter,” Councilman Cam Walker said. “Does this warrant termination? Absolutely not.”

Councilman Cam Walker and Councilwoman Linda Strickland during the Sept. 9 hearing

Strickland made another motion to place a letter of written discipline in Vicki Mayes’ employee file for the duration of her employment that addressed the insubordination, her inappropriate use of city resources, and the inappropriate administration and management of city personnel.

This too was voted down.

“I’m not in favor of punishing the city manager because she had a bad press day. I’m not in favor of punishing the city manager on the basis of something that was done principally by her husband,” Councilman Duncan McCoy said. “I’m not in favor of punishing the city manager any more than she has already been punished.”

Lastly, Walker made a motion to give Vicki Mayes a verbal warning against using public resources for private purposes, such as the city’s letterhead for her personal press release.

“I think a verbal warning and a verbal action is appropriate to make sure that public resources are not used for private purposes,” Walker said. “I think the message needs to be clear … that we protect the integrity of public resources in personal matters.”

This motion was seconded by Mayor Roger Tobler, who said he also felt the use of city letterhead for the press release was inappropriate.

“We want these things to be kept separate, even if it’s regarding you as a city manager, if it came from a personal nature, which this did, then we don’t want this to come through city letterhead or affect city personnel,” Tobler said to Vicki Mayes.

However, the motion received only the two yes votes and died.

Though there were no more motions made to discipline Vicki Mayes, she said she got the message.

“So there’s no formal motion,” she said. “Point well taken, I understand.”

Mayes declined to comment after the hearing.

On Monday, Mayes again declined comment, stating that she “just wants to get back to business.”

Citizens listen to the Mayes hearing Sept.9. Council chambers were standing room only with the hall filed with people watching the proceedings on TV.

Three different motions on disciplinary action for City Manager Vicki Mayes regarding events following the discovery of her husband’s out-of-state registration were all defeated.

An early motion for termination by Linda Strickland was defeated 3-2. Motions for written reprimand and verbal discipline were also defeated.

Mayes told the council she has learned her lesson. Check back for additional updates to the story later today.

By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

The special City Council meeting to discuss issues surrounding a vehicle driven by City Manager Vicki Mayes and husband Denny Mayes has been set for Sept. 9 at 8 a.m.

The Mayeses received criticism for the 2010 Nissan GT-R Premium sports car’s out-of-state registration.

They set up a limited liability company in Montana and by registering the vehicle to it, saved thousands of dollars in Nevada sales tax and registration fees.

The car has since been registered in Nevada and all the fees paid, Vicki Mayes said.

Montana has no state sales tax, which is usually paid when a vehicle is registered, and its registration fees are low, so many people register vehicles there to avoid paying their home state’s tax.

Vicki Mayes has said that the car is her husband’s name and that the LLC, Amayesd, is for a legitimate business he plans to start — but they don’t know what, exactly — and two attorneys, including former Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, told them the registration was legal.

But numerous agencies and the Nevada Revised Statutes said that if you live in Nevada and drive here, you must register your car here.

Because of the apparent confusion, and the public outrage of a highly tax-dollar-paid public official and her tax-dollar-paid, retired city employee husband not paying their own family’s tax on the vehicle, Mayor Roger Tobler decided to call a special council meeting to set the record straight and discuss any possible disciplinary action.

“It had to be discussed in an open meeting, where Vicki will have a chance to give her explanation of what happened and the city council will decide what they want to do,” Tobler said.

Tobler can’t say what he thinks will happen at the meeting, but he is expecting lots of public comment, both supporting and condemning Vicki Mayes.

Tobler did say he believes the registration was the fault of Denny Mayes, not Vicki, and won’t be calling for her resignation. However, he did not comment further on the details of the meeting.

“I think people are wanting to hear answers now and I just don’t know if (commenting) is appropriate before the special meeting, that’s why I called it,” he said.

Councilwoman Linda Strickland said she is concerned, not only with the vehicle’s initial registration, but Vicki Mayes’ lack of being forthcoming with information she requested.

“She’s in a position where we need to be able to trust her judgment, and we need to be able to trust what she says is correct. And for the information that has been presented thus far, I really have some doubts,” she said.

Strickland does not know what sort of action she will call for until more information is revealed, but she does feel it was more than a simple mistake on behalf of Denny Mayes.

“The bottom line is I want to be able to give her a fair shot to explain, because we are talking about her job and we are talking about her integrity, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this and resolve it in a fair matter,” she said. “But this is a little more than a mistake in my opinion.”

Vicki Mayes said she recently consulted Woodbury herself — only her husband spoke to Woodbury the first time — after a local tax attorney contacted her to explain her mistake, and Woodbury told her that Nevada taxes were due upon registering the car in Montana.

Woodbury could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

However, according to Vicki Mayes, even though Nevada law requires paying taxes, she does not think she broke the law.

“It’s clear to me that the taxes should have been paid,” she said. But, “I don’t think you can still jump to this whole illegal thing.”

Vicki Mayes said she would hate to lose her job over something her husband did and is looking forward to it all being behind her.

“For now I’m just trying to pay attention to my job,” she said. “But ultimately the council gets to decide.”

By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

City Manager Vicki Mayes’ husband registered his 2010 Nissan GT-R Premium sports car in Nevada Aug. 19, but a special city council meeting will be held to address the possible legal and ethical violations associated with the vehicle’s former out-of-state registration.

The Mayeses received criticism after Vicki Mayes drove Denny Mayes’ new car to work at City Hall a few times, because it had Montana license plates, and the Mayeses live in Boulder City and do not own property in Montana.

By registering the new vehicle earlier this year to the Montana-based limited liability company, Amayesd, Denny Mayes said he saved about $4,200 in Nevada sales tax. Montana has no state sales tax.

He also did not pay about $1,400 in Nevada Department of Motor Vehicle registration fees, he said.

Mayes’ revelations came during an interview with the Boulder City Review on Friday.

The majority of the Nevada’s sales tax and registration fee goes toward things like schools and roads.

Many people from all over the country establish companies in sales tax-free states like Montana and Oregon so they can save thousands of dollars when they register new vehicles, mostly expensive RVs.

The Nissan’s retail price tag tops $80,000 but the Mayeses said they traded in a Porsche Vicki used to drive.

“It’s an ongoing problem” in Nevada, according to Paulina Oliver, a tax manager with the Nevada Department of Taxation.

Though the practice is legal in Montana, according to the Department of Taxation and the Department of Motor Vehicles, in Nevada, it is not.

“For a private person, if you live here and you work here you have to register your car here,” DMV spokesman Kevin Malone said. “And if you form a company in another state that’s no excuse.”

Though the Department of Taxation, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Las Vegas Township Constable’s office — who recently launched the Fair Share registration enforcement program — said it is illegal to register one’s car out of state if the person does not live there, the Mayeses maintain that the vehicle’s registration was legal in Nevada.

“I legally registered my car out of state … just like thousands of Nevadans do every day,” Denny Mayes said.

The Mayeses said upon setting up the company with the Montana law firm, Bennett Law Office, they were told the registration was legal in Nevada. They also said they consulted a local attorney last week who told them they did not break any Nevada laws.

City Attorney Dave Olsen also told the Boulder City Review he thought it was legal, and Vicki Mayes said numerous attorneys have told her informally the out-of-state registration was legal.

According to Vicki Mayes, the agencies who said her husband’s act is illegal don’t know what they are talking about.

“They’re telling you general guidelines,” she told the Boulder City Review. “Two attorneys told us it was legal.”

But upon repeated questioning, the Mayeses would not reveal who the Nevada attorney they recently consulted was, so the attorney could be asked exactly how the registration was legal. And while Bennett Law Office did not return phone calls, its website claims “virtually every state” has statutes that can make the Montana registration legal.

Boulder City Police Chief Thomas Finn said he knows who the local mystery lawyer the Mayeses consulted is, and said the lawyer is someone who is respected in the community, and who would give the Mayeses’ an honest opinion.

Finn said Vicki Mayes told him about her husband’s registration a couple months ago, just in case her husband were to be stopped by an officer, but said her husband had the paperwork proving the car was legally registered to the limited-liability company.

“She felt, and I truly believe her, that it was legally registered under the LLC,” he said.

Finn said he wasn’t too familiar with how the out-of-state LLC registration worked, but believed Mayes that it was legal.

“I’m familiar that once you move here you have 60 days to register,” he said. “As far as the nuances with another state, and you have an LLC and it’s registered there, I wasn’t as familiar with those.”

He said he wasn’t even aware there might be a problem until an officer approached him after the Aug. 10 City Council meeting and told him it was illegal. He said this was the only contact he had with any officer about the issue and gave no directive.

But after looking into it a little further, Finn said he’s still not sure whether the registration was legal.

“On its face, it appears that it is illegal,” he said. However, “I wouldn’t say it’s a gray area, but there’s enough confusion.”

Finn said it would have been best to let the court decide, but it never came to that.

“If any of my officers felt it was a violation, it would have been well within their rights to pull them over, cite them, and let Judge (Victor) Miller figure it out,” he said. But, “If the vehicle’s been around town for several months and officers haven’t stopped her, then obviously they aren’t that concerned about it.”

According to the Mayeses, it is not a legal issue, it is an ethical issue. They agree, Vicki Mayes being a public official, it looked bad to register a car out of state and not pay taxes. But the Mayeses maintain the car was not registered out of state in an effort to dodge Nevada sales tax.

Denny Mayes said he set up the limited-liability company after he took a trip Montana and decided it would be a nice place to start a business, possibly after his wife retires in a couple years. But what this business might be, neither of them could say.

This idea for a business, Denny Mayes said, came around the same time he got the itch for a new car. He said he was told by someone — he couldn’t say who — that it might help the company to own an asset.

“It just coincided into the same time as getting a car,” he said. “And they said that is a good investment into your LLC.”

The Mayeses said they did not know that Bennett Law Office is one of Montana’s more popular registration service law offices, and has helped thousands of people from all over the country avoid paying their home state’s sales tax.

Denny Mayes said he simply found out about Bennett Law Office by word of mouth when he was in Montana, though he couldn’t say from whom.

The Mayeses said they weren’t even familiar with the practice of folks going to Montana to evade sales tax.

Vicki Mayes said she told her husband it wasn’t a good idea when he was thinking about doing it, because it might look bad, and he said he didn’t listen to her.

“To tell you the truth, I’m old enough to should have known, and I should have listened,” he said. “I did a dumb ass thing and now my wife’s paying for it.”

With the vehicle now registered in Nevada, there won’t be any citations issued. And the Mayeses are no longer risking fines by the Department of Taxation, if it were in fact determined to be illegal. But there are still some questions that need answering, members of the city council say.

Councilwoman Linda Strickland said she sent a letter to Vicki Mayes with some questions — asking where the vehicle was purchased, who was on the title, when it entered the state, who the officers and directors of the company were, etc. — which she asked to be answered in writing. Mayes did not answer.

“I haven’t gotten the cooperation that I’ve been hoping to get,” Strickland said.

The Mayeses told the Boulder City Review that Amayesd owns the vehicle, it was purchased in February and only Denny Mayes is named on the limited liability company.

However, upon repeated questioning, Denny Mayes would not say in which state the vehicle was purchased, only saying it was purchased out of state. And at one point last week, Vicki Mayes claimed she didn’t even know in which state the vehicle was purchased.

“I would think that it would be important to be just as up front and open about it,” Strickland said. “People make mistakes, but (withholding information) seems to compound it.”

Strickland said she requested for a discussion of the registration to be placed on a future City Council agenda. But that likely won’t happen, because Mayor Roger Tobler plans to have a special City Council meeting to discuss it instead.

This meeting, he said, will likely take place in a couple weeks, before the next Sept. 14 council meeting.

“(Strickland) asked for it to be placed on the agenda item,” he said. “I would rather have it taken care of sooner.”

While Tobler also said he doesn’t know all the details, and doesn’t know what will happen at the special meeting, he is concerned because the community is concerned, not because he believes Vicki Mayes’ character is flawed.

“Her husband made a bad judgment call and he’s taken care of it,” Tobler said. “Personally, I don’t think it has eroded my confidence in Vicki … the most important thing is we know it’s not going to happen again.”

Council members Cam Walker and Travis Chandler also said the out-of-state registration doesn’t look good for Vicki Mayes, but they need more information before they can render a solid opinion.

Councilman Duncan McCoy said the attorneys can argue about the legality of the registration. He doesn’t know the answer. But there is one thing he does know.

“You can hope and wish for perfect performance on the part of the people you work with and the people who work for you, but what you get is a human being and human beings make mistakes,” he said.

Mayes said that even though she hopes to resolve the matter, she realizes it will be difficult resolve any damage to her public image.

“I understand as a public official that any action of mine or my family is scrutinized by the public for adherence to the highest ethical standards,” she said in an Aug. 19 release. “I also understand that appearance of impropriety can be as detrimental to the public trust as impropriety itself.”

By Jack Johnson, Boulder City Review

When City Manager Vicki Mayes occasionally drove a new car to work, some started wondering about the 2010 Nissan GT-R sports vehicle’s Montana license plate.

This is because Mayes and husband Denny Mayes, a retired city landscaping supervisor, both live in Boulder City and do not, Vicki Mayes said, own property in Montana. A Nevada state law says that if you live here, you must have your car registered here.

The sleek, white machine is registered to the Montana limited-liability company, Amayesd. Vicki Mayes said it is a company her husband set up after they took a trip to Montana. They decided it might be a nice place to spend summers, she said, somewhere he could have a business.

“He was just looking ahead,” she said.

Currently, there is no operating business, she said, and they don’t even know what the business might yet be.

Due to Nevada’s relatively high registration fees, many residents save money by illegally registering their vehicles in another state, the Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Kevin Malone said.

“For a private person, if you live here and you work here, you have to register your car here,” he said.

But even if there were an operating business, Malone said, it wouldn’t change anything.

“If you form a company in another state, that’s no excuse,” he said.

Malone said there is a type of registration out-of-state businesses can get, called an apportioned registration, where the business pays for how much time the vehicle spends on Nevada roads.

But if Denny Mayes’ registration was apportioned, it would say it on the plate, and it does not.

Mayes said that her personal vehicle, an Audi SUV, is registered in Nevada.

And “as far as she knows,” Amayesd is not her company, and that the registration is entirely her husband’s business decision, which she believes to be legal.

“There are exceptions under the laws,” she said.

City Attorney Dave Olsen also said he was “vaguely aware” of the vehicle’s registration, and also thought it was legal.

“As far as I can tell it’s not that big of a deal,” he said. “If the corporation owns the asset, that’s all there is to it.”

Boulder City Police officer Craig Tomao said the police department was also aware of the Nissan’s Montana plates, but did nothing.

“(Chief Thomas Finn) knew about it, everybody knew about it,” Tomao said.

Finn, who works under Mayes, did not return phone calls by press time.

Though 2009 legislation gave the state’s constable offices the authority to issue citations for registration violations, according to Boulder Township Constable Jim Reed, the Boulder Township Constable has not done so.

“We haven’t really been going out and taking an active enforcement role. We’ve been leaving that to the Boulder City Police Department,” he said.

The Boulder City Police Department recently almost lost two officers to budget cuts, if the Police Protective Association did not agree to wage concessions.

Vicki Mayes said the cuts were an adjustment for the state’s declining tax revenues.

If the Nissan was purchased at its Kelley Blue Book value of about $83,000, the registration cost would have been about $1,500 in Nevada.

This is money Malone said goes toward the Nevada’s schools and roads.

Mayes could have avoided paying $6,700 in Nevada sales tax if the car was purchased in Montana, according to a KLAS-TV news report Tuesday night.

Mayes told the Boulder City Review on Wednesday she did not know which state the car was purchased in.

According to Tomao, who also serves as the vice president of the association, “I have to do it, you have to do it, she should have to do it. The state of Nevada is in a state of peril. It needs the money.”

Mayes, who made a base salary of about $180,000 last year, said she realizes that this may not look good.

“I understand what the public perception is,” she said. “My husband understands what the public perception is. He was a public employee, but this was a business decision he made. As far as I know, I’m not a part of it.”

By Arnold M. Knightly, Boulder City Review

The plan was to use this space to lament the fact that only two kids showed up to a children’s film festival, one of them mine, Saturday at the Boulder City Library.

That plan was scratched when Channel 8 broke the story Tuesday night that this city’s manager might have registered a car in Montana to avoid paying taxes.

There are so many issues that are troubling about this, if it is true, I really don’t know where to begin.

Channel 8 said City Manager Vicki Mayes doesn’t feel any obligation to register the car in Nevada, where she would have to pay $1,500 in registration fees.

While that money is not to going to save a city employee’s job, it is the appearance of thinking one is above the law that is troubling.

And make no mistake, if the car was registered in Montana to avoid paying fees here, that is against the law.

It is not known if the car, reported to be a 2010 Nissan GT-R valued at $83,000, was bought in Nevada or Montana.

If it was bought in Montana, under Nevada law, Mayes and her husband would still be responsible for the taxes here.

Nevada Revised Statutes 482.225.2 states: If the registrant or owner of the vehicle was a resident of the State, or employed within the State, at the time of the purchase of that vehicle, it is presumed that the vehicle was purchased for use within the State and the representative or agent of the Department of Taxation shall collect the tax and remit it to the Department of Taxation.

That means she would be on the hook for another $6,700, according to the Channel 8 report.

One shouldn’t presume to know Mayes’ finances.

But on the surface, one could not be blamed for being led to believe she could afford the taxes.

Mayes collected a base salary of about $180,000 in 2009, according to the Nevada Policy Research Institute. She collected another $44,000 in benefits.

The other vehicle often seen parked at in her spot at City Hall is an Audi SUV.

To be fair to Mayes, we have yet to clearly hear her explanation.

I do not know how many times Channel 8 interviewed Mayes. Their first attempt was likely after the long City Council meeting on Aug. 10.

I should have known something was up when I left City Hall that night at 10:30 p.m. and the TV reporter and cameraman were sitting on the steps.

After contentious discussions on lawsuits against citizens and nonpayment from a solar power company, Mayes found herself in the hall answering question from Channel 8.

According to someone who witnessed the event, the public official Mayes was none-too-happy to be confronted in a public hallway in the people’s government building being asked personal questions.

The problem is, certain personal questions become of public concern when someone might be skirting the law, even if it is only for a few dollars.

It is probably safe to say Channel 8 was tipped off to Mayes’ car by a concerned citizen or a political enemy.

That person could be one in the same.

Kudos to Channel 8 for driving up the hill to follow-up on the tip.

As for the film festival, that column will be written if more children don’t show up at the library on Aug. 28 for a showing of “Bambi.”

It starts at 11 a.m.

It’s free.

I’ll be there.