Top mayoral candidates talk about LV economy

Erin Neff

Monday, March 15, 1999 | 11:54 a.m.

Four words helped put Bill Clinton in the White House in 1992: "It's the economy, stupid."

And while voters in Las Vegas usually name traffic or growth as their top concerns, candidates for mayor are finding that underlying it all is that simple message.

It is the economy.

Las Vegas' economy is good now, what with news of increased gaming revenues and the lowest unemployment rate in decades.

In fact, the city estimated a 6 percent growth in sales tax revenue for last July through December. The actual rate was 12 percent, city Finance Director Mark Vincent said.

But the economic success has set high expectations. The next mayor's task will be to lay plans that will meet those expectations.

"Clearly right now, we're riding the wave of a good economy," Vincent said. "Everything's great right now. The challenge is to plan for the future."

The four leading candidates for mayor say the economy is an issue in this campaign and all vowed to focus on the economy if they win the office atop City Hall.

They differ on how.

City Councilman Arnie Adamsen vows to court international business while developer Mark Fine plans to diversify the economic base by partnering with UNLV.

Criminal defense attorney Oscar Goodman wants to revitalize downtown while former Henderson mayor Cruz Olague is concentrating on reducing crime to save the tourism base.

Arnie Adamsen

Adamsen, a longtime city councilman who perhaps has the best understanding of the city's budget, plans to stay the current course with watchful eyes and contingencies to weather any storms.

"We at the city always take a very conservative approach to our revenues," Adamsen said.

Adamsen, 49, also staunchly supports the Sister Cities program as a way to bring foreign investors to town in an effort to diversify the economy.

"I've been criticized for it in the past," Adamsen said, referring to attacks against him due to his frequent travel to the four Asian "partner" cities. "The long-term benefit is for them to think of Las Vegas as a business destination."

More than 50 percent of the city's revenue comes from sales tax, which fluctuates as a result of the gaming market. Only 17 percent of the budget comes from property taxes.

Although Las Vegas does not rely nearly as much on gaming revenue as Clark County does, any change in the tourism, gaming revenues or occupancy rates can still pack a wallop to the city's purse.

For that reason, Adamsen said, the city is banking on planned non-gaming development like the Neonopolis retail center downtown, Lowe's Home Improvement Center at Buffalo Drive and Washington Avenue and on car dealerships in the Northwest Town Center.

"We've got to concentrate on those businesses that give us the biggest revenues," Adamsen said.

Adamsen said he also favors maintaining the city's "rainy day fund" as a means of emergency funding in the event of a recession.

"I was here in the late '80s and early '90s when we had the recession," Adamsen said. "You have to cut expenditures and watch things closely. I know what to do in that case."

Mark Fine

Fine, who is making his first bid for elected office, said he's been thinking about the city's economy for 25 years.

As a member of the Nevada Development Authority, Fine said, he has learned more about economic diversification.

"We've always been looking at ways we could diversify in a quality way," the 53-year-old Fine said. "We have a community that's grown up and is maturing in a very fast basis.

"Ten years ago there weren't a lot of companies we could go after."

If he is elected mayor, Fine said he will court companies by partnering with UNLV.

"If we're going to attract those companies, we're going to have to get behind our university," Fine added.

Fine, president of Mark L. Fine & Associates, managing partner of Triad Development and a board member of The Fortress Group -- a homebuilder -- said his experience developing the communities of Summerlin and Green Valley taught him the importance in seeking a diverse business base.

Fine also said he plans to take a long-range view of the city's budget and growth by implementing some of the strategies and goals set forth by the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority, of which he was a member.

"I'm a big believer of looking at our problems," Fine said. "If we continue to build a community in a positive way, this community is going to have ways to deal with these issues."

As a developer, Fine's emphasis on growth and its subsequent effects on the economy picked up some steam last week when another developer, Jay Bingham, withdrew from the race citing health problems.

Bingham had been campaigning on a platform to deal with economic and growth issues on a regional basis.

Oscar Goodman

Goodman said he favors an approach that concentrates on downtown Las Vegas.

"I see some major problems unless we rejuvenate the downtown area," Goodman said. "It's heading toward looking like a war zone. If that happens, it'll be like an apple whose core has rotted and it could affect the whole bushel."

If elected, Goodman said he will use his position to recruit high-tech businesses into the downtown area.

"There's no doubt about it that I can be a salesman for the city," said Goodman, 59, who is nationally known for his legal representation of some of the city's most notorious Mafia figures in the 1970s and '80s. "They know me all over the place."

Goodman discounts long-term visions if they ignore present needs.

"I'm not one to look to tomorrow at the expense of now," Goodman said. "I'm not a procrastinator. We can anticipate the potential of problems with plenty of competition from Indian casinos.

"We're going to have to clean up," Goodman added. "We're going to have to make people want to come downtown."

Goodman said he already considers the city to be built out and plans to concentrate his efforts revitalizing the core.

Cruz Olague

Olague, 65, who is a consultant in the corporate convention industry, said he thinks the city has polished its image enough to attract big businesses.

"There's no such thing as Sin City anymore," said Olague, who was mayor in Henderson for two years in the early 1970s. "Las Vegas is an exciting city, and when I talk about Las Vegas I don't get that kind of negative feedback about the city."

Olague said he will study how other cities are dealing with their economic problems in order to devise ideas for Las Vegas. He also said he would ask the private sector -- mainly casinos and hotels -- for help attracting businesses to the city.

He also said he would lobby to repeal the federal North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said makes it difficult for businesses to choose Las Vegas over Mexico.

"I wish that there's a president that gets elected and a Congress and a Senate that would overturn it," Olague said.

He also favors annexing county land into the city to boost the city's tax base and reduce a duplication of services.

However, Olague said his main emphasis on fighting crime would also help the economy. Reduced crime rates would help stabilize tourism downtown, he said.

To those means he would propose increasing the city's room tax by $1 a room with proceeds earmarked for the Metropolitan Police Department.