LAS VEGAS — The State of Nevada, facing budget woes, will
ask the widow of the millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett to
reimburse it about $487,000 toward the cost of the monthlong
search for him last fall.
A spokesman for Gov. Jim Gibbons, a Republican, said Friday
that Mr. Fossett’s widow, Peggy, would soon receive a request
for a “totally voluntary” contribution. Her husband vanished
on Sept. 3 after taking off alone in a small plane from a northern
Nevada ranch. Mr. Fossett, 63, was never found and was declared
legally dead in February. His many adventures included an around-the-world
balloon flight.
The search involved dozens of aircraft from the Nevada National
Guard and the Civil Air Patrol scouring 20,000 square miles
of terrain. The state estimated that it spent $687,000 on the
effort, but $200,000 has been covered by a donation from William
Barron Hilton, the hotel magnate, from whose ranch Mr. Fossett
departed.
The governor’s spokesman, Ben Kieckhefer, called it “a difficult
decision” to approach Mrs. Fossett, but said Mr. Gibbons “needs
to convey what’s in the greater interest of the State of Nevada.”
The state faces a $914 million budget shortfall because of
a sales tax slump.
Mrs. Fossett could not be reached for comment, and friends
of the Fossetts declined to comment. The family has spent hundreds
of thousands of dollars on a continuing private search, Mr.
Hilton said last month.
