Wednesday, April 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The County Commission has approved $4.46 million in Community Development Block Grant allocations that don't include a local teen pregnancy program backed by Rep. John Ensign and his top Nevada aide.
The board approved the spending package Tuesday without comment, and without a motion by Commissioner Lorraine Hunt, also a Republican, to reallocate $36,000 for Meals-on-Wheels vans into the Life Line Pregnancy Assistance Center.
"I will see what I can do on my own to help Life Line," Hunt said. "This shouldn't be something we should be battling over."
The request drew concerns from local abortion activists, who recognized that Life Line's founder, Ruth McGroarty, is a long-time abortion foe who once led a ballot referendum opposed to abortion.
County commissioners criticized Ensign, R-Nev., for what they called an unprecedented lobbying of federal block grant allocations, and said the letter implied that his continued support of CDBG funds would be easier if the board granted the $235,174 Life Line Request.
Ensign said he never intended to threaten the board or step on their toes, and said he didn't consider Life Line to be a pro-life group. Ensign, an abortion foe who recently voted to ban late-term abortions, said he didn't know his Southern Nevada district director, Sonia Joya, serves on Life Line's board of directors.
Clark County belongs to a consortium with North Las Vegas and Mesquite to receive an estimated $5.82 million in the federal block grants. North Las Vegas is slated to receive $1.19 million, and Mesquite $22,295.
Unlike last year, when tempers flared over some of the project selections, commissioners worked together this year on how the federal grants would be distributed.
Almost $4 million of the federal money for Clark County is earmarked for bricks-and-mortar programs for urban and outlying communities. The largest single allocation -- $1.25 million -- is to help build a community resource center in the crime-plagued 89109 area.
The county is committed to spending $5 million on the project over the next four fiscal years.
Other big-ticket capital projects include $550,000 for construction of Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates' West Las Vegas Early Childhood Development Center, $400,000 for Commissioner Erin Kenny's Spring Valley senior center, and $150,000 for a senior center in Hunt's Whitney district.
Bunkerville is tapped to get $350,000 for the design and construction of a justice facility, while Searchlight is slated for $260,000 to help build a water distribution system.
The county also has committed to spending $500,000 a year in CDBG funds for the next four years for the MASH Center.
About $481,000 is slated for outside public service agencies, including Catholic Charities, Variety Day Home, Women's Development Center, Nevada Fair Housing, Christmas in April, and Trial by Peers.
Clark County Community Resources Manager Doug Bell said the county by law could spend up to 15 percent of its allocation on public service groups. Life Line's share would have used up 35 percent of the $699,000 that was available in that category, Bell said. Life Line received $17,701 in CDBG funds in 1994.
Founded in 1973, Life Line is supported by private donations and a recent one-time grant of $200,000 from the state Legislature.
The commission also approved an additional $63 million in capital improvement project allocations financed by the county's own Fund 437, a fund that absorbs money left over from the annual budgets of various departments.
Half the Fund 437 money -- $31.8 million -- will be spent on new construction projects, while 18 percent -- $11.5 million -- will be spent on information technology and another 11 percent will go toward facility renovation. The rest will be spent on miscellaneous, automotive, professional services, furniture, office equipment and park improvements.
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