Commissioners slow to decide on tax hike

Jeff Schweers

Thursday, Sept. 25, 1997 | 10:54 a.m.

The fate of a quarter-cent sales tax increase to pay for water facility expansion rests on three fence-sitting Clark County commissioners up for re-election in 1998.

Reluctant to provide ammunition for any potential opposition, they refuse to be pinned down on a definite position as they hold town hall meetings on the sales tax proposal before a Nov. 18 public hearing and vote.

The political hot potato comes courtesy of the Nevada Legislature, which gave the County Commission the option to impose the quarter-cent increase itself or put it to a public vote.

Currently, there is no consensus for either position, and certainly not the five-vote super-majority needed to approve the increase.

Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates is hoping for a 6-1 vote to impose the tax.

That could be a long shot. With eight weeks to go before the scheduled vote, those three pivotal commissioners -- Erin Kenny, Myrna Williams and Lorraine Hunt -- don't want to tip their hand on how they'll vote, although they've dropped hints.

Commissioner Lance Malone is the only definite supporter of a public vote.

"I have no comments on it right now, at this moment," said Kenny, a Democrat who so far has drawn two Republican opponents and may have a primary face-off herself.

Williams, a Democrat with no announced opposition to date, said she's waiting for the results of a survey she sent out to her constituents at several town hall meetings she's held on the sales tax.

"I still haven't made a position," said Williams, who sits on the Southern Nevada Water Authority board. "I won't know until I get the surveys back."

Hunt, a Republican who could face Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus next year, has been inclined to let voters decide the issue.

"However, I have been looking for a compelling reason, that this is an emergency we need to do now," Hunt said. "I haven't seen it yet."

Could that compelling reason arrive by the scheduled vote?

"If I have to drop the atom bomb, I'll do it," Hunt said. "I would hope the people would trust me enough to think I had a real good reason."

Three other commissioners -- Mary Kincaid, Bruce Woodbury and Gates -- are more resolute in imposing the tax.

Williams, Kenny and Hunt are caught between the competing interests of casino owners and developers who have the power to raise large sums of campaign cash, and voters who can end their careers at the ballot box.

The tourist and construction industries want the commission to impose the sales tax to avoid higher taxes and impact fees on them, while polls have shown citizens want to decide for themselves whether they want a tax increase.

Williams and Hunt have received $400,000 in campaign commitments from the casinos and developers.

"That isn't going to influence anything," Hunt said. "The major industry always contributes to candidates."

Williams complained that the public has not been fully informed of the consequences of rejecting a sales tax increase.

"Without information, I'm not sure what kind of judgment you can make," Williams said. "I hope that by the time the vote comes people have all the information."

Williams said she wants to be sure she knows what her constituents want before deciding how she will vote.

"On the one hand I've promised my constituents I'm going to listen to them, but on the other hand I have a lot more information than they do," Williams said. "Do I use my own judgment based on the information I have, or go with what I have told my constituents?"

Likewise, Hunt said she's not sure the public fully understands the issues.

"When you explain that water rates and connection fees would go up, and the price of housing goes up ... they support it (sales tax hike), but they want the choice," Hunt said. "They don't want to give up their rights, and it would be unprecedented for the county to start imposing taxes in this manner. I agree."

What the constituents are being told is that water rates and connection charges would soar without the sales tax increase, which could pay for a third of the water projects. They also are being told that with the sales tax, tourists will also be paying. About 30 percent of sales tax revenue comes from tourists.

"Are we better off with tourists paying part of it? You bet!" Williams said. "And if we wait two years down the road for a vote of the people, we'll lose $18-20 million of tourist revenue."

Also, Williams said, people don't realize that an additional 5 percent reliability surcharge means commercial users will pay 10 times more than residential users.

Asked whether that sounds like she was promoting a definite position, Williams recapitulated: "We'll just have to see when all the information comes."

Kenny said she has been discussing the sales tax increase for the last eight months with her constituents, "spending a lot of time listening to people and evaluating the material."

And she said the response has "generally been very positive." Meaning: "The majority seem in favor of moving ahead in a more rapid fashion in order to capture as much money as possible." Meaning: They want her to vote for it.

Kenny has said on the record several times that she supports the sales tax increase, even testifying before a legislative committee that she would vote to impose the tax. But she started back-pedaling after the decision was passed on to the commission.

"It's not a question of whether we're building the system, it is going to be built," Kenny said. "It's just a question of how to fund it."