Older areas are neglected

Jeff Schweers

Friday, May 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

With final approval of the Clark County budget a few days away, Commissioner Myrna Williams is still concerned that not enough money is going into older neighborhoods.

"There's been a benign neglect of the older neighborhoods," Williams said Thursday, repeating her theme that county revenue has been directed to the outer edges where growth is occurring while the urban core is decaying.

Williams earlier criticized the county's $600 million budget for 1997-98 because it had $70 million in unspent transportation bond revenue while many of her district's roads were crumbling.

But it isn't just roads Williams is worried about.

"I want more money spent in older areas, not just putting new roads on top of old roads," Williams said. "I want to make sure there's parks and rehabilitation of neighborhoods -- the whole thing."

Neighborhoods that don't receive much park construction revenue due to a lack of housing construction should get more of the county's capital improvement funds, Williams said.

The commission has scheduled a public hearing for Monday to approve its 1997-98 budget before it can be filed with the state Department of Taxation.

"We'll see if the votes are there," Williams said. "I also want to hear what the public has to say."

The $600.5 million operating fund includes 140 new job positions, bringing the number of full-time county employees to 5,281. The budget also has an ending fund balance of $68.4 million, an amount that conforms to the taxpayers' bill of rights.

The new budget is about 2.6 percent higher than the current budget due to a 7 percent increase in revenue collections, Finance Director Rosemary Vassiliadis said.

More than 55 percent of the budget is committed to public safety and criminal justice, including close to $90 million.

Metro plans to hire 165 new officers, Vassiliadis said, with the money for 115 of them coming from a voter-approved tax override. The other 50 are incorporated into Metro's budget request, along with 70 new civilian positions.