Library overload

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Dec. 23, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

The path toward a badly needed second library for North Las Vegas may be discovered through talks now under way with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.

While other tactics have not panned out, some kind of formal cooperation between the North Las Vegas Library District and the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District is an idea that is still very much alive.

Mayor Michael Montandon and Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, for example, met last week with officials of the Las Vegas-Clark County district. Atkinson Gates represents a portion of North Las Vegas and has been working for years to find a solution to the city's library deficit.

The city's current library, which costs more than $1 million to run annually, lacks sufficient resources for North Las Vegas' 117,000 residents.

The city already owns the land for a new library -- at the corner of Alexander Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard -- and was allocated $350,000 by the 1997 state Legislature to design it.

But after the Legislature failed to provide $1.3 million to build the library and residents voted down a tax increase in 1995, the city has looked elsewhere for help.

County commissioners shot down a proposal earlier this year by Montandon and Atkinson Gates, that the county give the city $5 million -- $2 million of which was a loan that the city would have to pay back.

Instead of funding the library, the county agreed to help bring a $5 million recreation center to the city by purchasing 11 acres of land on Alexander Road and Allen Lane. The county also pitched in $1 million toward the effort.

An audit of the city in October suggested that the North Las Vegas Library consolidate with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District to share services.

Following the meeting last week, Atkinson Gates, Montandon and Las Vegas-Clark County district officials expressed optimism that services could be consolidated.

"The meeting went pretty good," Atkinson Gates said. "There is some potential for coordination between the city of North Las Vegas and the Las Vegas-Clark County Library. There is a strong likelihood that it will be more of consolidating services, but we're not sure yet."

Montandon agreed, adding that there are no specific proposals on the table.

"The Las Vegas-Clark County library district is not the least bit territorial," he said. "(Director) Daniel Walters ... feels good about addressing this on a regional basis rather than fighting about the city's borders. In general, everyone was willing to talk."

Montandon also refutes the rumor that if the districts consolidate, the county will close the city's current library.

"Historically, people have felt that if North Las Vegas becomes part of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District they would shut down our library. No way," he said.

All parties agree that funding another library is a complex issue, especially because North Las Vegas and the city of Las Vegas operate on different tax rates.

North Las Vegas is a separate taxing district and has never been part of Clark County, while the city of Las Vegas and Clark County consolidated in 1985, creating the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.

Clark County Finance Director George Stevens said that in 1981 there was a shift in how local governments were funded. Prior to 1981, local governments received the majority of their money from property taxes.

After 1981, the governments got a portion from property taxes and from a new consolidated tax, which includes sales tax.

Because North Las Vegas was its own district, it was not included in the formula and does not receive the additional consolidated tax.

If the two districts were consolidated, the district boundaries would shift and it would take a change in Legislation for North Las Vegas to be able to share in the consolidated tax, Stevens said.

"Historically, the barrier to consolidation has been the fact that they often have unequal tax rates," he said.

But because the city of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas have almost identical property tax rates, the tax rate would be levied across the entire district.

"People in North Las Vegas would pay the same amount of property taxes," he said.

Karen Bramwell Thomas, vice-president of public relations for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District said: "There's a definite interest in (the two districts) working together. We're willing to do whatever we need to do to help the community."