Fed grant to be used to hire 30 officers

Jeffrey Libby

Thursday, July 5, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

Henderson officials will use new state tax revenues gained during the legislative session to preserve a $2.25 million federal grant to hire 30 additional police officers.

The City Council on Tuesday accepted without discussion the federal grant, brokered in January by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. The vote confirmed City Manager Phil Speight's announcement in June that the city planned to use most of an estimated $4.4 million in new state revenues for patrol officers.

The 30 additional officers would allow Henderson police to maintain about one officer for every 1,000 residents through December 2002.

City officials in June asked homeowners to support a tax initiative that would have raised a projected $850 million over 30 years to hire 166 new officers, as well as another 71 public safety personnel. They hoped to get an "edge" on crime in the growing suburb, they said, by boosting police staff to 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents. Voters rejected the measure.

In January, when the grant was announced, city officials said they did not have enough discretionary budget funds to supply the required matching money. Now, in light of a new tax formula that favors the city, they do.

The city will pay $1.3 million in matching funds this fiscal year and another $2.7 million through 2004. When the grant expires the city will need about $3 million a year to pay salaries and related costs for the 30 new hires.

City officials initially estimated that a new formula for distributing state tax revenues would net about $3.6 million annually. But that figure, which is elastic and could change, has since been projected at $4.4 million.