Commissioner Alexis Hill, the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County, and School Board Trustee Chair Beth Smith want our kids on the bus—public transit, that is. Through the RTC Student Transit Program, kids aged 7 to 18 enrolled in the Washoe County School District can now ride the city bus system for free.

Sounds generous. But let’s ask the obvious: Where exactly is a 7-year-old going alone on public transit? This isn’t a yellow school bus. It’s the general population riding—meaning our kids will be sitting next to who knows who on the way to who knows where.

As Washoe County Manager Eric Brown prepares to step down on June 30, 2025, a growing chorus of questions is beginning to echo across county hallways—and among local taxpayers. Is this a planned retirement… or a quiet retreat ahead of legal, ethical, and administrative scrutiny?

Brown, who took the reins in November 2019, leaves not just a high-paying position—with an annual salary reportedly over $330,000—but also a storm of controversy in his wake.

In a move that’s raising eyebrows and red flags, Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill is now at the center of an amended complaint/lawsuit that suggests a troubling breach of ethics — one that may have compromised the independence of Washoe County’s elections office during a pivotal election cycle.

Picon was curious why yesterday's Washoe County Board of County Commissioners meeting wrapped up so quickly. The reason became clear when Commission Chair Alexis Hill made an appearance at the school district meeting shortly afterward. It seems the brief commission meeting was timed so Chair Hill could make it to the school district meeting and seize her fifteen minutes of fame.

Commissioner Hill went onto discuss a ‘great success’ RTC program that was launched last year by the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County but gave us no data.

If you’ve read the recent This Is Reno six-part series on employee payrolls at the City of Reno and Washoe County, you probably needed a stiff drink—or at least a calculator. It turns out that while residents are tightening their belts, local government is busy loosening theirs to make room for bloated paychecks, lush benefits, and zero accountability when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

Washoe County's Curious Financial Priorities

In a dazzling display of fiscal cognitive dissonance, Washoe County is preparing to honor its Chief Financial Officer Abbe Yacoben at the annual Nevada Women's Fund Women of Achievement Gala this May. The same Washoe County that is currently navigating a $27 million budget shortfall. The same CFO who presumably has access to a calculator.

As local governments scramble to patch their leaking financial ships—with Washoe County, Sparks, and Reno all millions in the red—they've settled on the usual solution: deeper dives into taxpayer pockets. Increased fees, passed on charges, some say, sales tax hikes are circling the drain, and "fire consolidation assessments" have become the preferred alternative to actual fiscal responsibility - (translation: moving money around so Reno - Sparks - Washoe County can spend fire budgets to run the city/county, because if State Senator Skip Daly, Mayor Ed Lawson, Commissioner Alexis Hill, and Mayor Hillary Schieve have their way, residents will pay an assessment to fund fire services - slick, right).

Who knew our culinary adventure sampling a $4 gourmet disappointment at the Washoe County Senior Center's makeshift cafeteria would lead to such bureaucratic pearl-clutching?

Picture this: while digesting our questionable meal at the "under renovation" center (a phrase we use loosely, as "planning" appears to be a foreign concept in county vocabulary), we took a little constitutional and snapped a few innocent photos of some rather interesting signage.

Remember those campaign trail promises? You know, the ones where candidates smiled, shook hands, and studiously avoided mentioning the fiscal elephant lurking in the room? Congratulations, voters - you've just witnessed the most impressive disappearing act since Houdini: the complete evaporation of campaign transparency.

The Pre-election playbook from Sparks Councilmember’s Anderson, Dahir, and Abbott, Reno Sparks Councilmember’s Anderson, Taylor, Martinez, and Reese, and Washoe County Commissioners Hill and Andriola was to stay mute about the financial woes the cities and county were facing in the next fiscal year. Assemblymember Natha Anderson didn’t tell voters she wanted to raise property taxes at all those campaign meet and greets in 2024.

Oh, how delightful. Washoe County Government has once again proven that they can't resist jumping into the social media fray, apparently believing their defensive comments are some kind of brilliant strategic move. Spoiler alert: they're not.

Let's break this down for the cheap seats: These public servants seem more interested in playing digital damage control than actually serving the residents who pay their salaries. It's like watching a desperate PR team try to plug holes in a sinking ship - except the ship is local government, and the holes are their own spectacular mismanagement.

Our Town Reno reported on this death at the Nevada CARES Campus yesterday. Commissioner Mike Clark sent the FYI announcement to the press. Why are we now reporting on this? Because the tenor of the email just really pissed us off, this is a human life.

The Washoe County manager and assistant county manager's response to a death at the Nevada CARES Campus appears to demonstrate a deeply troubling lack of human empathy. Reducing a human being's death to a mere "FYI" (For Your Information) memo reveals a disturbing bureaucratic detachment from the fundamental value of human life.

Amid a $27 million budget deficit, Washoe County's funding of the Tahoe Prosperity Center raises serious questions about fiscal responsibility and potential conflicts of interest.

Key Concerns:

• Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill sits on the board of the Tahoe Prosperity Center

• The county previously allocated $47,500 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to the organization on July 18, 2023

• A proposed $10,000 funding allocation remains under consideration? Or is it?

Look closely at Senator Daly and Taylor's SB-319, or you might miss the burning hole it's about to put in your wallet. This isn't just legislation—it's a blank check written in your name.

The bill creates a Fire Protection District with truly spectacular taxing power by the Washoe County Commissioners: no limits on property assessment values and the ability to keep raising taxes. Miss the first tax hike? Don't worry—there's always round two, three, or ten.

Someone at the county is singing like a canary. What prompted the RGJ to suddenly request badge data for IT Director Behzad Zamanian? Our sources inside the 9th Street building tell all.

It seems Zamanian's IT staff have had ENOUGH of their boss's ghost routine. Five years in, and he's still playing the "remote work" card with zero effort to actually move to Nevada. But wait—there's more.

Please read to the bottom of this article and look at the complaint filed by criminal attorney Theresa Ristenpart. You’ll want to note the troubling information about Sober 24 and their testing methods “Including Forcing Pretrial Client to Strip Search Before Testing” - say what? Was County Manager Eric Brown and his staff aware this was taking place at Sober 24?

Has County Manager Eric Brown suddenly morphed into a legal expert, "warning" commissioners to keep quiet about the Justin Roper investigation. His excuse? Speaking might "risk of possibly interfering" with the law enforcement investigation or is it an "HR matter." Keep up Eric, choose one.

Washoe County's January 28th Strategic Planning Meeting wasn't so much a planning session as it was a carefully orchestrated performance. County Manager Eric Brown paraded his loyal appointees before the commissioners in what amounted to an elaborate puppet show—department heads and direct reports dutifully describing a county running like clockwork under Brown's exceptional leadership and planning for the future.

The charade of commissioners directing the county's future course? Pure theater. At Washoe County, the ship sails only in the direction Brown charts, regardless of what elected officials might prefer. These are the same Brown-selected officials who crafted Commissioner Alexis Hill's presentation to the Nevada Legislature's Senate Committee on Government Affairs—the one where she boldly claimed a 40% reduction in homelessness, a figure so dubious it deserves its own category of creative accounting.

At the Washoe County Board of County Commission Meeting on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 after the presentation from the newly appointed Registrar of Voter Andrew McDonald there were questions.

One asked by Commissioner Mike Clark wondered if he could be sent The Elections Group list of categories which was highlighted by McDonald on Page 11 of his presentation. Clark noted that some recommendations (96) have been completed, others are in progress, not started, or no action at this time. Clark asked if a list of the categories could be sent to him.

Welcome to the latest episode of "Who Really Cares About Seniors?" starring our very own Washoe County Commission.

In this corner: Commissioner Mike Clark, actual admitted senior citizen and long-time champion of senior issues. In that corner: Commissioner Clara "Photo Op" Andriola, suddenly discovering seniors exist. Behind the curtain: Chair Alexis Hill, puppet master, and motivated to make sure Mike Clark is not reelected in 2026.

On February 3, 2025, Commission Chair Alexis Hill and County Manager Eric Brown made quite the presentation at the Nevada Legislature, claiming they've reduced homelessness in Washoe County by 40%.

Let's Talk About Déjà Vu:

• Haven't we heard this magical 40% number before? or was it 50% back in 2023?

• Wasn't it proven false last time?

• Where's the data to back up this recycled claim?

Remember when Alexis Hill swore up and down during her 2024 campaign that she wouldn't raise taxes? That promise had a shorter shelf life than milk left in the sun.

Hill spent three years, 2022, 2023, and 2024, playing political dodgeball with fire regionalization, we now know why - she was waiting until after reelection to drop the tax bomb. State Senator Skip Daly's email spells it out: your wallet is about to get lighter.