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Department of Taxation asks for training, legal support and storage to finish Project MINT
Summary
Taxation officials briefed the subcommittee on Project MINT (the unified tax modernization), requested training officers, two in‑house counsel positions, travel for audits and IT contracting to clear legacy backlog, and storage/licensing to protect legacy data and support rollouts through 2026–27.
Shelley Hughes, executive director of the Nevada Department of Taxation, told the Legislative Commission's budget subcommittee the agency has launched Project MINT to modernize the state's tax systems and needs targeted funding to finish rollouts, train staff and shore up legacy interfaces.
Hughes said the department collected and distributed about $10.3 billion in fiscal year 2024 and that sales and use tax represents about $7.3 billion of that total. The department described a phased implementation: Phase 1 (e‑services) completed Dec. 9, 2024; Phase 2 is scheduled for Dec. 2025 and Phase 3 for Dec. 2026. The department asked for one‑shot funds to support staffing as ARPA funding expires and decision units to add training officers, a tax manager for a carved‑out taxation services section, and two unclassified general counsel positions to reduce a hearing backlog and provide specialized legal support.
Taxation officials asked for funding for travel to enable auditors and revenue staff to pursue cases in rural counties, training to reduce reliance on manual processes, and an IT contract to address legacy coding and interfaces between MINT and older systems. They also requested additional production storage for legacy data (the agency said current flash storage is at about 70% capacity) and licensing renewals for critical security and dev tools.
Deputy IT director Joe Bernardi addressed AI use in the modernization work, saying the agency had used natural language processing to improve correspondence templates and had “absolutely 0 taxpayer information to AI” when asked about data privacy. Committee members asked about storage capacity, timelines and how electronic delivery of taxpayer correspondence would be authorized; the department said it would propose related statutory language and offer taxpayers an opt‑out where required.
The department also identified several small equipment and vehicle requests and asked for funding to support statutorily required boards and commissions travel and administrative costs. No formal votes were taken during the presentation.
