Compromise finally reached on distributing state taxes

Erin Neff

Tuesday, June 5, 2001 | 10:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An 11th-hour agreement between local governments and legislators will give Henderson the tax change it wanted but without the heavy blow to the city of Las Vegas and Clark County that fueled a dispute during most of the 2001 Legislature.

Under the agreement, the way state taxes are distributed will be changed to make it fairer for fast-growing areas like Henderson, which will also receive an immediate $4 million to compensate for past shortfalls.

Assembly Bill 653, sponsored by Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, sought to right the tax distribution system that fast-growing cities claimed harmed them. Throughout this session, Las Vegas and Clark County officials met numerous times with legislators in an attempt to kill the measure because it would have required each of them to pony up $2 million for Henderson.

Numerous changes were made to the original bill to appease Las Vegas and Clark County, but the fight continued until neither the Assembly nor Senate could agree on the terms of the bill.

Over the weekend a conference committee was supposed to convene to resolve differences between the two houses. Although the committee did not actually meet, a compromise was offered that would give Henderson $2 million -- $1 million each from Las Vegas and Clark County.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and Perkins rejected the offer, and a second conference committee was convened to work out the differences. The new agreement provides the original $4 million for Henderson by collecting money from all entities in Clark County, including North Las Vegas and Mesquite, which claim they are also harmed by the tax distribution formula because of their swift growth.

"Right now it's not going to do anything significant to us, but in the long term the bill does reward growth," said Marvin Leavitt, a lobbyist for Las Vegas.