Wednesday, April 22, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.
The Clark County Commission has approved $300 million in road construction projects for next 12 months, but is short about $100 million in road funds to pay for them all.
The Commission Tuesday adopted a list of road projects for the 1998-99 fiscal year. The board also adopted a list of projects for the future that includes $84 million in accelerated beltway construction and up to $12 million in improvements requested by Summerlin, the master-planned community on the Valley's northwest side.
"If they're willing to spend money on improvements we can find a way to get that handled," county Public Works Director Marty Manning said. "When they're willing to put money on the table that's a pretty serious commitment."
Summerlin officials said they would spend $2.5 million on road improvements as an incentive to the county funding several interchanges, in addition to existing commitments to give the county 25 miles of right-of-way and excavation.
Manning said such a commitment could have a tax impact and possibly cause "not meaningful" delays on Regional Transportation Commission projects -- meaning some RTC projects could be delayed by up to a year.
As of March 31, the county had $272.8 million in unspent road revenue, although $123.6 million is already encumbered -- that is, it's been committed through construction contracts for the 1998-99 fiscal year.
The remaining $149.2 million is expected to be encumbered within a year, county managers said. That amount added to other available revenue sources still leaves a $100 million funding shortfall.
By the end of fiscal '99, officials said, the 1987 transportation bond proceeds and a special 5-cent ad valorem tax will have been spent, leaving a $67.5 million shortfall in beltway funding projects and a $41.9 million shortfall in resort corridor projects.
But finance officials said there is sufficient revenue to issue new bonds to cover the shortfall.
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