Turnout leads to surplus in funds for government

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000 | 11:45 a.m.

A lighter-than-expected turnout on the Las Vegas Strip to celebrate the new millennium should return hundreds of thousands of dollars to local government coffers, officials are saying.

Metro Police Lt. Marc Joseph said that Metro budgeted $1 million for last weekend's shindig -- $650,000 more than for New Year's Eve 1998 -- and could wind up saving as much as $500,000 of that when the final tally comes in.

"We were able to adjust our shifts and step down around 9:30 p.m. when the crowds did not materialize the second night," Joseph said. "The money saved could be rebudgeted for priority needs that were put on hold."

Most of the costs to this year's celebrations went toward overtime pay put in for the preparations, as little damage was caused to the Strip and surrounding streets, keeping repair costs at a minimum.

About 300,000 revelers took to the Strip Friday night, far below the 450,000 to 800,000 that had been projected earlier.

"Most of the $130,000 we spent was for fire and rescue preparedness," city of Las Vegas spokeswoman Darcy Hayes said. "It was far less than the amount management expected. We understand that we were not alone and that there were savings across the board."

Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said the final tallies are not in, but it is apparent his agency spent much less than the $100,000 that was budgeted.

"It turned out there was no large demand for our services," Leinbach said.

Henderson spent just $94,000 of the $315,000 it budgeted for New Year's preparedness, with $70,000 of that money paying for police overtime.

"Taxpayers benefited from no civil unrest or crazies trying to create a millennium moment for themselves," Henderson spokeswoman Vicki Taylor said.