School tax draws criticism

Friday, June 27, 1997 | 11:17 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A bill to boost the hotel room tax and the real estate property transfer tax in Clark County to finance school construction has run into stiff opposition from rural members of the Assembly.

Despite the objections Thursday, the Assembly adopted amendments to Assembly Bill 353 and sent it to the Ways and Means Committee for further consideration.

After the vote, Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, pleaded with "cow county" lawmakers to remedy their problem without hurting schoolchildren in Southern Nevada.

School construction is in a "crisis" in Clark County because of the population increase, Perkins said. "We must get together and work out the details."

AB353, as it now stands, increases the room tax by 1 percent in Clark County. Five-eighths of a percent now going to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also would be set aside for school construction. The property transfer tax would be raised by 60 cents per $500 of valuation.

In addition, the current property tax rate imposed to pay off school construction would remain the same until 2008. The district is paying off past construction debts and without the bill the rate would decrease as the bonds are retired.

It would be up to the voters in Clark County in 1998 to decide if they want to adopt this property tax freeze where the rate would not decrease for 10 years.

That package, said Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, would take care of school construction for the next decade.

But Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Minden, said there is no equity in the program to finance school construction in other parts of the state. Even if the bill permitted the rural counties to raise the room tax and the property transfer tax, the revenue would be negligible.

There's no tourism in such counties as Lincoln and Esmeralda, Hettrick said.

"I will help Clark County in any way I can, but the rural schools are entitled to a little help, too," he said.

Goldwater said the bill allowing counties to impose a quarter-cent sales tax increase for infrastructure can be used for school construction in rural Nevada. It cannot be used in Clark County for building schools.

Hettrick countered that the sales tax in rural Nevada is paid by the residents without a big share coming from tourists as in Clark County.

"Where's the equity thing?" he asked.

Assemblyman Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, said that bill was sold on the basis of the money being used for infrastructure such as sewers, railroad underpasses and roads. He said there was no talk about it being used to build schools in rural Nevada.

Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, complained about a section of the bill that would set up a committee of local elected officials to oversee school construction, rather than the school board.

In rural Nevada, Carpenter said the school boards "are elected to run the schools and they do a good job. They're the most qualified. We don't think it's necessary to have a mini-school board."

Goldwater said, however, that the Clark County School Board wants to get out of the construction business and back to "dealing with the kids." Goldwater said his Infrastructure Committee had worked with Jim Costa of the Rural Alliance on the bill and it was only in the last day or two that any objections were raised.

This oversight board, Goldwater said, would be involved in the design and construction of the school buildings.

The oversight board in the bill would be composed of county commissioners and city council members.

The bill was shuffled off to the Ways and Means Committee to consider the $1.7 million appropriation requested by Gov. Bob Miller for an assessment of school building needs in all 17 counties.