Mayor hopping mad over loss of impact fees

Cy Ryan and Erin Neff

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 12:20 p.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Assembly decided Wednesday not to let the city of Las Vegas dig deeper into homeowners' pockets to pay for infrastructure, an action that has left Mayor Jan Laverty Jones broiling.

Voting 27-14, the Assembly rejected Senate Bill 457 to allow the city to impose impact fees on new homes to raise money for fire stations and parks.

The action came a day after the Las Vegas City Council gave tentative approval to a property tax increase of 2 percent.

Lobbyists for the city said they would try to revive the bill today. The timing of the council's vote probably damaged initially chances of SB457's passage.

Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, led the opposition to the bill on Wednesday, saying "impact fees do not solve any problems. They just raise the cost" of a home.

A newspaper story on the council's action circulated among assemblymen before the vote.

Later Jones called the Legislature's decision a "knee-jerk" and "irresponsible" reaction to front-page headlines.

"They sit up there who knows how many miles away and try to run things for us," Jones fumed. "They don't allow us -- who know better -- the right to impose impact fees.

"They make us go through them, as if they know what's best for us. If we put into effect impact fees and the public doesn't like it, they can vote us out of office."

Jones also said she was mad that legislators only seem to react when there's a slight tax increase.

"Two years ago we dropped taxes 10 percent, and there was no reaction," Jones said.

Assemblyman Doug Bache, D-Las Vegas, defended the Assembly's vote. Impact fees would raise money for fire stations, but not for such things as fire trucks or operation, he said.

As proposed, impact fees revenues would be restricted to neighborhood parks. No revenue could be spent on golf courses or any project larger than 50 acres. Recreational and bike trails would be eligible only if they were located in a park.

Bache said the bill got out of his Government Affairs Committee by an 8-6 vote and he didn't have any "heartburn" at its loss.

A law allowing the imposition of impact fees for sewer, storm drains, streets, water and drainage projects has been in effect for 12 years. No government entity in Clark County has ever used it.

SB457 would have added parks and firefighting projects to the areas eligible for funding with impact fees.

Assemblywoman Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said she opposed the bill because there is no authorization to have impact fees help pay the cost of new schools. "We need schools," she said.

After the vote, Assemblyman Tom Collins, D-North Las Vegas, said he would try to revive SB457 today.

Dan Musgrove, representing Las Vegas, said there wasn't a clear understanding of the bill. The 2 percent property tax increase would be for bonding to get park land, but a good chunk would go for increased staff and maintenance.

An impact fee would provide money for land and the park's development. New neighborhoods would pay for these parks rather than all taxpayers in the city.

Impact fees cannot be used for staff or maintenance, Musgrove pointed out.

Voting for the impact fees were Las Vegas Democrats Bache, Morse Arberry, Barbara Buckley, Chris Giunchigliani, Ellen Koivisto, Mark Manendo, Harry Mortenson, David Parks, Kelly Thomas and Wendell Williams. Other Democrats supporting the bill were Vivian Freeman and Sheila Leslie, both of Reno, Bonnie Parnell of Carson City and Gene Segerblom of Boulder City.

The City Council will vote Monday on the final budget, which, as now proposed, would raise the property tax by 1.75 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That amounts to an extra $4.69 a year on a home valued at $100,000. That tax increase would generate about $2.5 million a year.