Stage set for sales tax vote

Jeff Schweers

Monday, Nov. 17, 1997 | 12:47 p.m.

How the Clark County Commission is lined up to vote Tuesday on the quarter-cent sales tax increase is still uncertain, but one thing is clear:

Water rates and hook-up charges are going up.

How much depends on what the commission decides.

The commission has a choice: impose the tax now or let voters decide the issue on a general ballot a year from now.

The sales tax needs five votes for the commission to impose the tax, but only three said they would vote to impose it, and at lease two members are for letting the voters decide.

If the second option is put to a vote first, the commission may not even have a chance to vote on the first option.

"I am definitely for letting the voters decide," Commissioner Erin Kenny said, although she herself supports the sales tax increase.

But a recent survey she conducted of her constituents -- many of them newer residents in the booming Spring Valley area -- show that 80 percent favor putting it on the ballot.

"I think the voters would like the opportunity to voice an opinion on an area that affects their pocketbooks so directly," Kenny said.

Commissioner Myrna Wil-liams conducted an informal survey she had tabulated and analyzed by the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV.

Williams represents a much older, more established constituency in the Winchester Park area whose response was about the opposite of Kenny's group: 65 percent support the increase.

But Williams was troubled by comments from several constituents that seemed to contradict her survey results.

"I have to think very carefully whether there's a real commitment, in spite of the numbers, because of the comments made," Williams said.

Williams and Kenny, along with Commissioner Lorraine Hunt, face re-election in 1998.

If imposed, the tax increase will offload some of the burden from residential and commercial customers onto tourists and keep the regional water rate from exceeding 10 cents per 1,000 gallons over the next 15 years.

If it fails, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is still going to have to pay for all those new pipes, treatment facilities and pumping stations, which means the regional rate will climb to 20 cents per 1,000 gallons by 2012.

"Nothing happens immediately the day after," SNWA Deputy Manager Richard Wimmer said. "Basically, without the sales tax, water rates would start going up in a year or so."

Authorization for the county to impose the quarter-cent sales tax increase was granted by the 1997 Nevada Legislature. If imposed or approved by the voters, the extra revenue will help pay for $3 billion in water and sewer improvements over the next two decades to support an additional 1 million residents.

The seldom-told part of the story is that no matter what happens, water purveyors are going to have to spend $1.3 billion over the next 20 years laying pipes and building pumping stations.

Therefore, the local water rate will go up 70 percent during the next 10-15 years regardless of what happens to the regional rate. The local rate already increased 20 percent in 1996.

Increasing the regional rate on top of the local rate "just adds insult to injury," Wimmer said.

"That is why the advisory committee recognized the need to hold down the regional rate as much as possible," Wimmer said.

The average household is charged $32 a month, including the $3.67 service charge, for about 20,000 gallons, Wimmer said. In 10 years the average water bill is expected to increase to $56.

Without the sales tax, the regional rate will add another $4 to the bill. With the sales tax, it will add $2 to the bill.

Some have wondered why the water authority or water districts can't charge more to the biggest users. But SNWA Finance Director Carey Casey said the largest users are paying more per thousand gallons than the average residential user.

A single residential customer pays about $1.63 per gallon while Del Webb Sun City pays $1.99 per thousand, the Tournament Players Club pays about $2.09 per thousand and the MGM Grand pays $1.90 per thousand.

"Their rates get higher because they are using much more water," Casey said.