Talk of cuts caused by lower revenue dominates budget work

Jace Radke

Friday, March 12, 1999 | 11:35 a.m.

The North Las Vegas City Council began to hear about the city's finances for the new millennium on Thursday at the first of two budget workshops.

City Manager Pat Importuna and finance director Vytas Vaitkus explained to the council that although the city's revenues have been high in the last few years, there may be reason to believe that the revenues may drop.

"We need to show more prudence fiscally because we may experience a drop from the sales tax monies that we share with the other cities in Southern Nevada," Importuna said. "When resorts like Mandalay Bay open we share in the sales taxes that they pay for carpeting, furniture and everything else that goes into the project, but we don't know how many more of those types of properties will open up in the future."

Importuna pointed to the city's ending balance of nearly $2.5 million for the fiscal year of 1998-99. For 1997-98 the city had an ending budget of $6.6 million, and the year before that it was $6.5 million.

Those larger sums are partially attributed to the opening of new resorts like the Bellagio and the money in sales tax that they bring, Vaitkus said.

"It would be wise to keep in mind that there may be two or three more resorts opening (the Venetian, Paris and Aladdin), but a lot of the sales tax on their purchases has already been collected," Importuna said.

The budget summary for the fiscal year 1999-2000 begins with the nearly $2.5 million left over from this year and adds a projected $67.9 million in revenues. The city is expected to spend $65.9 million in the next fiscal year

Along with that number Importuna recommends that the city spend more than $1.1 million in supplemental requests for city departments.

"The supplemental budget is for one-time acquisitions like computers, furniture and police cars," Importuna said.

The supplemental budget includes money to replace the Justice Court roof, 40 personal computers for the police department and new kitchen equipment for the detention center, among other items.

The city is required to file its tentative budget with the state April 15. The council will hold a public hearing and adopt the budget for the new fiscal year on May 18.