Voters to decide on tax increase for fire services

Erin Neff

Thursday, April 6, 2000 | 10:21 a.m.

Las Vegas residents will have to decide this November whether increased fire protection is worth a moderate increase in taxes.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday authorized its staff to seek approval from the Clark County Debt Management Commission to levy a 9.5-cent increase in the city's tax.

A resident with a home worth $100,000 would pay $33.24 more in annual taxes to fund the fire initiative, adding $2.77 a month to the mortgage payment. Such a homeowner would owe $1,146 annually if all other taxes remain the same.

Residents in unincorporated Clark County do not pay city taxes, so neighbors outside the city limits would owe $871 for a home of the same value.

The median cost of a home in the Las Vegas metropolitan area is $143,500, according to the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, bringing the average fire tax increase closer to $50 annually.

The initiative would fund four new fire stations, three rescue bays and eight new trucks and provide funds for a 30-year truck replacement program. The tax hike, which would net $99.1 million over 10 years, would also fund the whole cost of operating the new stations.

"In my view, it doesn't do us any good to build stations if you can't man them," Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said.

City staff members and fire officials pared down the department's original request for five stations and a training center to lessen the impact on taxpayers.

Deputy City Manager Doug Selby said that the tax increase will free up money in the general fund that is currently spent for fire services for other programs.

Councilman Larry Brown said he thinks the city should stress to voters the relatively small impact the initiative will have on their taxes.

With the tax hike, the city's share of a resident's total tax bill would be 24 percent. The Clark County School District, Metro Police, state of Nevada, county and other public services get the remaining 76 percent.