Solidarity falls by the wayside: City, county leaders were to oppose revenue shift

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, May 15, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

A meeting between Clark County and the city of Las Vegas to show solidarity was canceled Monday, raising doubts that local governments are unified in fighting legislation that would shift money from them to the state and school district.

The canceled meeting was to have taken place Thursday. Clark County commissioners had been scheduled to join Las Vegas City Council members at a public hearing.

The hitch, county sources say, is County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, who rejected the idea of holding a meeting and whose opposition to at least one piece of legislation has waned since a unity gathering two weeks ago.

Herrera refused to approve the joint hearing, forcing his colleagues to come up with letters of request to override his decision. Only Commissioners Yvonne Atkinson Gates, Myrna Williams and Erin Kenny responded.

Earlier this month Herrera stood beside City Council members and commissioners but the chairman now says he has a slightly different take on Assembly Bill 457.

The bill, co-sponsored by Assemblymen Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, and David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, would take local governments' share of motor vehicle privilege taxes over a two-year period and give it to the school system. The shift would provide a statewide 2 percent teachers' raise.

"I think it's difficult to put the county in a position to speak against a measure that would go a long way in treating teachers like the professionals that they are," Herrera said Monday.

Herrera rejected a meeting because he does not want to upset legislators who also control other bills that will affect Southern Nevada. His colleagues, who are in favor of the hearing, have claimed Herrera is more concerned about how lawmakers draw new district lines that would affect his chances of winning the third congressional seat.

Atkinson Gates said the public hearing was scheduled to inform residents about the Goldwater-Beers bill's effect on the community.

"This isn't about the teachers, it's about adequately providing services to teachers," Atkinson Gates said. "It doesn't make sense to rob Peter to pay Paul if there is a shortage all the way around."

City officials wouldn't offer their opinions on the meeting's cancellation, other than to say there is no point in a solidarity meeting if there is no solidarity.

"Without consensus, there is no point in meeting," city spokesman Erik Pappa said. "The whole idea was to have a unified voice in opposing the bill Mr. Goldwater and Mr. Beers are pushing."

Herrera didn't deny that the losses would be difficult to handle, as Southern Nevada's local governments would lose $65 million over two years. Two other proposals, one that would change the consolidated tax distribution formula and another that would take property taxes from local governments, are also before the Legislature.

Herrera said prioritizing is a significant part of an elected officials' role.

"If any of those measures that shift resources from the county to the state pass, it will require us to make some very difficult decisions related to spending priorities," Herrera said. "That's what leadership is about."