NLV Council approves tentative budget

Lisa Snedeker

Wednesday, April 7, 1999 | 11:09 a.m.

The North Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved a tentative budget for the next fiscal year at a special meeting Tuesday.

Councilman William Robinson was absent for the third budget workshop held to update the council on the city's projected revenues and expenditures for fiscal year 1999-2000.

But the council could not afford to wait to take action, said City Manager Pat Importuna, because the city must file its tentative budget with the state by April 15. The final budget is due June 1.

The council plans to hold a public hearing and adopt the final budget May 18.

The city's projected revenues total $162.5 million, compared to $161.3 million in expenditures.

Finance Director Vytas Vaitkus explained that the city has mandated costs, such as Municipal Court, police, fire, parks, and nonmandated costs, such as streets, recreation centers, swimming pools and the detention center.

Mandated costs eat up 61 percent of the general fund, while nonmandated costs take up the other 39 percent.

Conversely, Vaitkus said, the revenues the city can control -- building permits and business, animal and gaming licenses -- finance only 35 percent of general fund. The remaining 65 percent comes from sources the city cannot control, such as room tax, franchise fees, fines, state-shared revenues and property tax.

The council also unanimously approved $1.2 million in one-time, budget requests. Among the requests were $90,000 for a citywide management audit, $439,800 for various Police Department needs such as new radios, and $284,000 for public works equipment and maintenance.

One of the biggest changes from the current budget, according to Importuna, is the establishment of an employee benefit fund of $1.1 million. The fund will be used to pay unused vacation or sick days for employees who retire or otherwise leave their positions.

In previous budget workshops, Vaitkus warned the council that although the city's revenues have been high in the past few years, there is reason to believe that the sales tax revenues disbursed to the cities may drop as fewer megaresorts open on the Las Vegas Strip.