Clark County commissioners next week will reconsider whether to accept a $407,500 payment from land broker Scott Gragson as compensation for property he received at no cost in controversial real estate trades with McCarran International Airport.
Commissioners originally had the proposed settlement before them in May.
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But they postponed a decision after Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates suggested that the 7.5 acres near Patrick Lane and Durango Drive were worth more than the $407,500 payment price Gragson negotiated with the county.
"The board asked us to go back and do another review of it," county counsel Mary-Anne Miller said Thursday. "We don't have anything to change our opinion. We're still recommending that the appraised value be accepted."
In asking for the reassessment, Atkinson Gates said in May that "there was a lot of hanky-panky going on in reference to those appraisals."
Clark County auditors, the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated a series of airport land deals in 2005 and discovered that properties traded to Gragson were undervalued by appraiser Tim Morse.
Gragson was involved in 20 of the airport's 46 land deals, and Morse was hired to appraise property in each of those exchanges. Gragson then flipped most of the property, making millions in profit.
Although no charges were brought in the case, the county asked state regulators to investigate Morse.
The Nevada Real Estate Division closed its probe in January, stating that Morse's appraisals in the McCarran deals complied with Uniform Standards of Appraisal Practice and that "there is insufficient evidence to substantiate any allegations of misconduct."
Miller said this opinion and talks with real estate experts reaffirmed that $407,500 -- a negotiated price based on Morse's appraisals -- was appropriate compensation for three parcels of county-owned land that were tossed into a package of property acquired by Gragson in 2001.
In that deal, commissioners approved the land exchange between Gragson and McCarran before the other pieces of property near Patrick and Durango were added.
Miller described the addition of the parcels without compensation to the county as a clerical error that should have been caught by a McCarran employee or the escrow company that handled the transaction.
Gragson will pay the county $125,000 for a five-acre parcel at the intersection. The county will receive $267,500 for 2.5 acres in the same area. Gragson also will be responsible for $15,000 in interest.
The amount agreed upon is substantially less than auditors determined the land was worth. The county auditing team reported in December 2005 that the 7.5 acres were worth $654,489.
County officials have declined to discuss details of the negotiations that led to the $407,500 settlement price.
Although the recommended action by Miller is to accept the deal Gragson has agreed to, commissioners have other options.
Atkinson Gates asked Miller in May whether the county could get the land back rather than accept Gragson's payment.
Miller expressed concern then and on Thursday that the county could be sued if it tried to reacquire the property, because the land exchanges were executed in "good faith."
However, if commissioners opt to try to reacquire the land through the courts, Miller said she must act quickly because the time period in which legal proceedings can be initiated is soon to elapse.
Miller said it is only by unfortunate timing that the matter is being brought back before the commission at the first meeting after Atkinson Gates' retirement.
"It is a coincidence," Miller said. "We tried to get it on earlier, and Yvonne asked us to do some retroactive appraisals, and that dragged on for longer than we thought it would. It's an unfortunate coincidence, but we did keep Yvonne appraised on the work."
