Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.
State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, is challenging supporters of the proposed state college in Henderson to initiate a city bond issue to help pay for the $34.5 million needed to start the school.
She isn't alone.
Three university system regents said Wednesday that they agreed with Titus. University and Community College System of Nevada Regent Chairwoman Thalia Dondero and Regents Mark Alden and Steve Sisolak all suggested that demonstrated financial backing from the city of Henderson would have a positive influence on the Legislature when it convenes in February.
But Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said Wednesday he has no intention of taxing his constituents for a project that will benefit the entire state. Councilmen Andy Hafen and Jack Clark also expressed reluctance to pursue a bond issue.
Gov. Kenny Guinn said in an interview published in Tuesday's Sun that he has scratched funding for the proposed four-year college from the initial draft of the 2001 state budget.
Reaction to Guinn's unexpected comments has been mixed.
But the consensus among state officials is that supporters of the college will have to work harder now to secure funding in a tight budget biennium.
Titus believes the most effective way for the city of Henderson to secure funding, at least in part, is to start closer to home.
"Jim Gibson has made no secret about wanting to revitalize the Henderson downtown," Titus said. "They're pursuing a lot of urban renewal. They're buying up old houses. He sees this (college), and rightly so, as a big shot in the arm. But because the city's looking at it from an economic standpoint, and not an educational one, maybe some of those interested businesses ought to pony up some of the money."
Clark argued that the move to bring a four-year college to his city is not about business at all.
"The question is very simple. Do we need another college?" Clark said. "And if you think we do, you need to support it. People can try to tie it to redevelopment, but we're moving ahead with or without the college. This is about education."
Gibson, like Clark, defined the need for another college as a state issue, not a local issue.
"If it were the responsibility of the city of Henderson to provide the components of the puzzle of higher education in Southern Nevada, then that would be one thing. But the fact of the matter is, this is not a Henderson issue," Gibson said. "How much sense does it make for Henderson to impose a tax on its citizens so the children of Nevada can attend college here?"
The proposed college could just as easily have been located in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas or Boulder City, Gibson said. But the city of Henderson secured for the state a roughly 270-acre campus on land with an estimated value of $40 million, he said.
"That is the reason Henderson has become the focus," Gibson said.
Sisolak acknowledged the boon to the state of the land donation, but said as an "in-kind" deal, the land didn't have the same impact.
The land donation from LandWell Corp., a developer, is contingent on the company's ability to develop a 2,000-acre master-planned community with about 7,000 homes just north of the college campus.
In support of Titus, Alden pointed out that Nevada is one of just five states nationwide that chooses not to fund community colleges through taxpayer money from local coffers.
In most parts of the country, Alden said, taxes are redistributed to fund local community colleges.
Alden said he "floated" a proposal for redistributing taxes last spring to help pay for the college, but found no support. Unlike a bond, he said, redistributing taxes would allow councilmen to avoid raising taxes for more money.
A Henderson bond issue could still be drafted in time to appear on the April ballot for primaries in the municipal elections, city administrators said. And most political insiders don't expect the college to be discussed in the Legislature until late in the session, toward the end of May. But Gibson said he would not consider issuing a bond.
For his part, Alden hopes regents and legislators can find a way to fund the college. It is being billed as a cheaper way to educate students and as a long-term solution to teaching and nursing shortages in the Las Vegas Valley.
"The denial of the state college would be catastrophic to economic diversity in Southern Nevada," Alden said. "It has to happen."
Dondero, who is chairing three planning committees for the state college, said the finances committee will be studying bond issues.
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