Public safety, library service tax hikes fail

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, June 6, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

The police and fire departments will have to make due with what they've got.

So too will the Henderson Library District.

Henderson residents came out in larger than expected numbers for Tuesday's municipal election, nearly three times as many as voted in the April primary. They voted their pocketbooks, turning down two tax hikes that would have increased taxes $98 annually for the owner of a $100,000 home to improve public safety and library services.

The public safety tax, at $84 annually for a $100,000 home, would have paid the salaries of 237 new public safety employees, including 166 police officers and 30 firefighter/paramedics.

Police and fire officials promoted the increase by saying growth has slowed them down and that emergency response times would be improved with the additional staff.

But despite a two-month, $67,000 campaign by Citizens for a Safer Henderson, an ad-hoc group in favor of the public safety tax hike, voters defeated the measure. It was the same tax hike they voted down in November.

About 24 percent of the active registered voters went to the polls, with 9,972 voting for the tax and 12,504 voting against it. That translated to 56 percent against and 44 percent in favor.

Henderson Police Chief Michael Mayberry, drinking a can of diet soda Tuesday night during a post-election gathering of supporters, said he plans to meet with his staff today to decide cuts in service to free up more police officers to patrol the streets.

"I think the entire city will suffer because the lion's share of available funds will still go to public safety. From public works, the building department, community development, even the city attorney's office and courts -- they're all going to suffer," Mayberry said. "In addition to the citizens, who will suffer increased response times to priority one calls."

Jim Ferrence, a political consultant who ran the campaign in support of Question 1, said his group did all it could. Each of the last nine Saturdays they walked to homes throughout Henderson, 30,000 in all. They made 100,000 phone calls and sent out 50,000 mailings, he said.

"As much as anything these people were saying they're not going to pay another dime," Ferrence said, noting that the Henderson Library District and the Clark County Children's hospital were also voted down.

Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers, who held the gathering at her Bridle Road home, said public safety will be limited to the status quo. Police will no longer be able to provide the comforts of small-town services such as making a house call after a home burglary to fill out reports, she said. People will have to go to the station for that, she said.

A $2.25 million federal grant that would have paid a percentage of salaries for 30 new police officers will likely be lost, Cyphers said. The grant, won in January with help from Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., would require $836,000 in matching city funds in 2001.

But despite the disappointment, Cyphers said the city would not put another initiative before the voters any time soon. Cyphers, who is hanging laundry out to dry and clipping coupons due to the increased prices of utilities, said she understood that voters felt "overwhelmed"by demands "hitting them from all different directions."

Joan Kerschner, director of Henderson District Public Libraries, had much the same reaction to her lost bid to raise new money for more libraries. The tax would have cost an additional $14 annually for the owner of a $100,000 home. Henderson has the second poorest number of books per resident in the state.

About 20 percent of active registered voters cast votes for the library issue, with 7,125 voting in favor of the tax, or 39 percent, and 11,321 voting against, or 61 percent.

"People were just not in the mood to raise taxes for anything. They had a nice selection of possibilities and they didn't choose any of them," Kerschner said.

She said the defeat of both the public safety and library tax initiatives was a loss for residents.

"The city has a wonderful quality of life, but we're not going to be able to maintain it without more resources," she said.