CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Gov. Jim Gibbons plans to bill the widow of adventurer Steve Fossett for the unsuccessful recovery search.

Last year, the state spent $687,000 over a month looking for the multimillionaire adventurer after his plane disappeared in northern Nevada. During a month-long search, ground crews, the Nevada National Guard and the Civil Air Patrol scoured a 20,000 square-mile area, but turned up no sign of Fossett or his plane.

"We believe that while this is not a common practice, the extraordinary costs of the search, coupled with the state’s current budget difficulties, warrant the request. The exact process the state will go through to make this request is still to be determined," said Gibbon's press secretary, Ben Kieckhefer.

Fossett, 63, took off Sept. 3 in the single-engine plane from a private airstrip on a ranch owned by hotelier Barron Hilton. Associates said he was scouting locations for an attempt to break the land speed record in a car. He did not return from that flight.

State crews used more than 20 planes and 60 searchers during the preliminary hunt for Fossett after receiving dozens of leads, but he was never found. Hilton sent the state a check $200,000 to cover some of the search costs, but the search was suspended Oct. 3.

Fossett was declared legally dead Feb. 15 by an Illinois judge.

A Gibbons spokesman said the governor will bill Peggy Fossett for costs of the unsuccessful search as the state faces a budget shortfall projected to top $900 million.