Douglas County mulls step toward open space tax

Monday, April 3, 2000 | 8:43 a.m.

County commissioners intend to decide on Thursday whether to create a citizen committee to draft ballot arguments for the tax.

Backers of the plan are calling for a quarter-cent increase in the local sales tax.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is studying a plan to raise money to buy development rights in Douglas County by selling federal land in southern Nevada. But supporters fear that proposal may have stalled.

Douglas County commissioners have said before that they do not intend to endorse a new tax. But they have indicated they might be willing to place an open-space initiative on the ballot.

The action would have to happen under a tight timeline to have a ballot question prepared for the Nov. 7 election.

For much of 1999, a coalition of ranchers, government officials and business interests have explored ways to keep Carson Valleys farmland green.

If commissioners decide to move ahead with a ballot committee, it will be made up of three members in favor of the tax and three opposed.

The group would amend boilerplate language from the Legislative Counsel Bureau into arguments specifically supporting and opposing an open-space tax.

Jacques Etchegoyhen, chairman of the county commission and a leading advocate of efforts to save the county's farmland, said enthusiasm among county residents supporting the effort is swelling.

But he acknowledged volunteers will need a strong effort to persuade Douglas County's traditionally tax-wary voters to support any open-space tax.

"I think it can happen if people really want it to," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "It's doable, but it's going to take an immense amount of work."