Wednesday, April 8, 1998 | 8:37 a.m.
Commissioners contend reapportionment is necessary before the census in the year 2000. They say some commission districts have grown to the point they are nearly double the population of others.
The commission has approved a plan to spend $40,000 to use population estimates generated by county staffers. It will receive input from a citizen committee on new boundaries.
Neal, D-North Las Vegas, is opposing the plan, saying the state legislature has chosen more than once not to allow redistricting based on population estimates. He urged the commission to wait until the year 2001 when figures from the 2000 census will be available.
"We have said you can use other methods, but they must be as accurate as the U.S. census," said Neal, a gubernatorial candidate. "Estimates are not as accurate as the census. This will not stand up in court at this time."
Commissioner Bruce Woodbury acknowledged the litigation threat but said the need to redraw the boundaries by the next election in 2000 overrode that concern. Disparities in the number of people each commissioner represents gave some voters more power than others, he said.
Woodbury represents the largest district with 227,399 people, while Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates represents 125,087 people, according to county estimates. Woodbury has 111,612 registered voters in his district, while Atkinson Gates has 39,324.
Rapid growth in the northern, western and southern parts of the Las Vegas Valley has caused the large gap between district populations.
The board has received contradictory answers to the question of whether it can redistrict. A 1996 district attorney's office opinion said no, but a state attorney general's office opinion said counties can do so more often than every 10 years.
Tuesday's meeting, while less contentious than one on March 3 when redistricting first was approved, nonetheless featured Atkinson Gates repeatedly pointing out that Woodbury opposed a similar redistricting effort in 1988 as a waste of money because of the coming 1990 census.
Woodbury noted that he then lobbied the Legislature in 1991 to change the law.
Atkinson Gates and Commissioner Mary Kincaid, who opposed redistricting in March, voted with the 6-1 majority to move forward on the condition that the commission ask for an attorney general's opinion on the proposed methodology. The consultant won't be hired until that opinion is rendered. In the meantime, Neal is awaiting a Legislative Counsel Bureau opinion on whether such an effort violates state law.
Commissioner Myrna Williams remained steadfast in her opposition.
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