By Cy Ryan

Wed, Aug 13, 2008 (1:06 p.m.)

CARSON CITY -- The state Ethics Commission is looking at imposing a fee on candidates for public office to help support the agency.

Commissioner Paul Lamboley suggested today charging anywhere from $15 to $25 on the filing fee that candidates pay to get their names on the ballot. The money would go to the commission, which has been hit with budget reductions.

“I know the governor has been against new taxes,” Lamboley said. “I don’t think that reaches into that.”

The proposal would have to be approved by the 2009 Legislature. The Ethics Commission ordered its director, Patty Cafferata, to study how much the higher filing fee would raise. It will be discussed again at a later commission meeting.

The Ethics Commission is funded 60 percent by local government and 40 percent by the state. The budget approved for this year was $740,499 but it has been sliced twice on orders of the governor.

Ethics Commissioner George Keele said, “We need the money and I would love to see it go forward.” He said it was not a tax increase and would allow the commission to operate at a minimum standard.

The proposed fee would not be assessed against judicial candidates.

A separate fee increase — on mining claims — is expected to raise $400,000 for the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Gov. Jim Gibbons, a graduate of the school, said Tuesday he opposed the plan to raise the fee by $2, but the increase didn’t require his approval.

The state Mineral Commission “did not give us time to make remarks on it or give them our input,” the governor said about the levy that became effective Aug. 4. “They had already implemented it.”

Alan Coyner, director of the state Division of Minerals, said he sent the information on the fee increase to the governor’s office but never received a reply. He said he thought that mean it was approved since no objection was raised.

“It was made without me so I’m going to let it go through if that is what they see is what they need,” the governor said Tuesday.

The Mineral Commission on July 22 voted to raise the annual fee from $6.50 per claim to $8.50 per claim. The counties also impose $2 and the federal government charges $125 per claim. There are an estimated 220,000 mining claims in Nevada.

The Mackay School of Earth Science and Engineering suffered budget cuts as did the rest of the university system on the orders of Gibbons.

Cy Ryan may be reached at (775) 687 5032 or cy@lasvegassun.com.