Columnist Jon Ralston: Raiding local government coffers

Friday, April 27, 2001 | 4:18 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the public affairs program "Face to Face" on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the Ralston Report. His column for the Sun appears on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or by e-mail at ralston@vegas.com

CARSON CITY -- Legislators here love to point out how local governments are, in the vernacular, "creatures of the state." Counties and cites are created by state law and regulated by state law. And they can be maimed or destroyed by state law.

This session, the collective Dr. Frankenstein seems more determined than ever to kill the monster it created. And just as the fictional mad doctor did, lawmakers are eager to try to focus their violence on the creature to cover up their own failings, specifically their raw cowardice.

In trying to stick a knife in local governments, especially in Southern Nevada, and extract as much money as they can from the belly of the beast, the Gang of 63 has shown an unwillingness to address the state's long-term fiscal health and a willingness to reverse a fair-share victory won by Clark County a decade ago.

Welcome to the horror show that is the legislative process on the eve of an Economic Forum that will show the fastest-growing state in the country is at least $135 million short in revenues. Instead of addressing the tax structure, with or without raising taxes, the Gang of 63, with the governor's complicity, seem more willing to slice programs or rob local governments in Nevada's most populous county.

It began with a measure designed to pilfer motor vehicle privilege tax money now going to local governments and redirect it to the state to give teachers a raise. Even its sponsors acknowledged it was a Band-Aid, or a way to keep the discussion of education funding on the front burner. But that measure has opened a debate that timorous legislators see as a way to avoid the taxing question of how to fund needed state programs, and frightened local governments see this as a vehicle to cost them millions and force them to give their state masters an accounting of their finances.

The tension between the state and the locals is not new. Lawmakers often stick their noses into local issues, from the infamous "ring around the valley" of a couple sessions ago to sham neighborhood casino laws. But this session may bring all-out war. And like most conflicts, it will be fought over money and power. And like some wars, it will also be a political misdirection play so that people won't see what the issue really is -- the state is on the brink of a financial crisis and lawmakers don't want to deal with it.

The rumbles have grown beyond the motor vehicle privilege tax measure, as Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio has now come out of the closet with a proposal for "reallocation" (euphemism alert) of property tax dollars now going to local governments and shifting them to the state. Raggio has talked to Gov. Kenny Guinn about the proposal, and the governor and others have previously wondered about raiding governments swimming in revenues while the state struggles.

Certain governments? Yes, I mean those in Southern Nevada, especially Clark County. Add in that the commission has become a cauldron of discontent and ambition, with personality conflicts bubbling over and destroying credibility. And with Mayor Oscar Goodman the only potentially viable Democratic contender for the state's highest office, that surely makes Guinn and certain Republicans only too eager to take money out of his government, too. Who do you think the people will blame if the city has to cut services?

After the Economic Forum releases its findings this week, lawmakers will have three choices: Cut programs, purloin money from the locals or find a way to take responsibility and fund the deficit. I suppose a combination of all three is possible, too.

The public should not miss what is happening here. Whether or not you agree that new revenue is needed for education or anything else, almost everyone here agrees that the tax structure needs to be fixed.

There is a cogent argument to be made that the state needs more money for education and other programs. But it cannot be made by special interests salivating to feed at the state trough. And lawmakers, especially Raggio, do not respond well to what he calls the "scare tactics" of the teachers and school district. Perhaps lawmakers need to be scared into doing their jobs.

If lawmakers and the governor don't want to do what's needed, so be it. But to foist this problem on local governments is an act of legislative cravenness that should not go unpunished.