Lawmakers cool to tax increase for water

Larry Henry

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Legislators are reacting negatively to a plan to raise sales taxes for a water project to allow Clark County's population to grow to more than 2 million.

"Is all growth good growth?" asked Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas. "Absolutely not."

She was one of a dozen legislators who wandered in and out of a presentation Tuesday by the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The authority is drafting a bill to raise sales taxes a quarter-cent in Clark County to complete a second water pipe from Lake Mead to Las Vegas.

Sales taxes would fund 30 percent of the $1.7 billion water and sewage system, already under construction. Hook-up fees and higher water rates would pay the remainder.

The sales tax would be collected even after the pipe is completed and used by local governments for whatever they choose, said authority spokesman Richard Wimmer. The sales tax in Clark County and several other counties is 7 percent, the highest in the state.

Giunchigliani and other key legislators, including Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chairman Morse Arberry, D-North Las Vegas, oppose raising sales taxes. Gov. Bob Miller has not included tax increases in his $3.04 million budget proposal.

Casinos and developers are pushing the plan because they hope to avert a tax hike on their own industries while guaranteeing a water supply to expand. Clark County's water comes from only one pipe. The second pipe would allow the county population to grow from 1.2 million to more than 2 million, authority officials said.

Some legislators say they don't like being asked to jeopardize their political careers by raising a tax on average citizens who won't have a chance to vote on the increase.

"Voters should have a say in the process," said freshman Assemblyman Dario Herrera, D-Las Vegas. Herrera said he has not decided how he will vote.

"I want to see what Clark County can do without involving the Legislature," said Assemblywoman Jan Evans, D-Sparks.

Water officials and gaming lobbyists say a legislative vote is necessary because money to finish the pipe is needed immediately, while a public vote would take two years.

A poll released last week by the University of Nevada, Reno indicates that Clark County residents would not approve sales taxes but overwhelmingly support an increase in the gaming tax.

Some lawmakers speaking off-the-record said they doubt the sales tax will receive support from two-thirds of the Legislature, as law requires. But others said the tax will pass because the powerful casino industry considers water its top issue.

Gaming lobbyists say casinos already fund about half the state budget and shouldn't pay more. They also note that hotel-casinos only use 8 percent of the water in Clark County. Residential use accounts for 64 percent.

Assemblyman John Lee, D-Las Vegas, questioned whether the Legislature should be involved in local growth issues.

Giunchigliani said the Legislature will have to grapple with growth problems "because people at the local level don't want to deal with it." She plans to introduce a bill creating a regional planning board.

"Six thousand people a month are moving into Clark County," Giunchigliani said. "We've lost sight of quality of life."

Wimmer said the authority will ask city and county governments in Southern Nevada to pass resolutions encouraging the Legislature to raise sales taxes.