School trustee Burr wants to sue county debt panel

Jeff Schweers

Tuesday, July 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A deputy district attorney and the state's legislative counsel have upheld action by two commissioners on a debt oversight panel that rejected a proposed school bond referendum.

But that won't stop School Board member Jeff Burr from recommending a lawsuit against the county's Debt Management Commission.

County Commissioners Myrna Williams and Yvonne Atkinson Gates took the opportunity Monday when voting on the school district's $816 million bond question to blast critics of their no vote almost four weeks ago.

Williams slammed Burr and a local columnist for alleging the commissioners had broken the law by overstepping the the bounds of their authority on the debt panel.

Burr claimed the board could only consider bonds either on the table or already approved to determine the need of the proposed bond.

"They exceeded their authority, because there were no other written proposals and nothing else was before them," Burr said.

Williams and Gates based their decision on state law requiring the panel to consider the needs of overlapping tax entities once a proposal is made that would push the tax rate to 90 percent or more of the state's $3.64 tax cap.

The Legislative Counsel Bureau and the Clark County district attorney said the statute allows board members to consider anticipated need and any other factors in weighing a bond proposal.

"There is no restriction upon the source of information to be considered by the commission," the Legislative Counsel Bureau's Brenda Erdoes wrote, meaning that the board is free to consider anything it wants in considering what's best for the county's taxpayers.

"I think they acted within their authority," said Chuck Hauser, chief deputy district attorney for the County Commission. "The statute doesn't limit their ability to include other things, or make them put on blinders."

Those two no votes June 13 killed the school district's proposal.

Burr maintains that Williams and Gates acted improperly. He said he will recommend today that the School Board file suit against the debt panel.

"We've asked our counsel to look into suing them," said Burr, who had originally proposed the $173 million Part B to create enough middle schools to get kids off year-round schedules.

"Because we disagree philosophically? Give me a break," Gates said. "They're going to be spending taxpayers' dollars suing us after griping about not having enough money for schools? Let 'em."