Lawmakers don’t like sales tax hike plan for Vegas-area water

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

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

She was one of a dozen legislators at a presentation Tuesday by the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The authority is drafting a bill to raise sales taxes, now at 7 percent in Clark County, a quarter-cent 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. Hook-up fees and higher water rates would pay the rest.

The additional 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.

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

But casinos and developers are pushing the sales tax plan because they hope to avert a tax hike on their own industries while guaranteeing a water supply to expand.

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, who hasn't decided how he will vote.

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

But 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 wouldn't approve sales taxes but overwhelmingly support an increase in the gaming tax.

Some lawmakers doubt the sales tax will get 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 while residential use accounts for 64 percent.