Fire station gets reprieve, may open six months early

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2001 | 10:45 a.m.

A southwest Henderson fire station that appeared doomed by a failed public safety tax this spring may open six months early, in January 2002.

Less than four months ago, city officials told voters that without approval of an $850 million public safety tax hike, they would not be able to staff the Anthem Del Webb fire station, the city's ninth fire station. Del Webb had already agreed to pay $2.5 million to build and equip it, and broke ground on the project in February.

But after a lengthy battle in the Legislature, Henderson lawmakers and elected officials were able to pass a law that amended the formula for dividing state tax revenues between municipalities in Southern Nevada. The new formula gave Henderson an estimated $4.3 million boost to put toward the annual budget, almost all of which appears to be earmarked for public safety.

On Tuesday a budget committee comprised of department heads recommended that the city put aside $550,000 of that money to pay a half-year of salaries for 15 firefighter/paramedics and support staff in this budget year, starting when the station opens.

The city would budget $1.3 million for a full year of salaries as of July 1 next year, when the new fiscal year begins, Richard Derrick, city budget manager, said.

The City Council in July voted to budget $3 million annually to hire 30 new police officers, allowing the city to accept a $2.25 million federal police grant three days before it expired.

Together, the amended fire and police budgets would eat up almost all of the $4.3 million gained by the adjusted tax formula. Other departments will have $2.25 million to boost budgets through 2004, when the federal police grant runs out.

The recommended money for the fire department would have to be approved by the City Council in October.

An approval would allow the city to live up to an agreement signed with Del Webb as part of the city's annexation in 1997 of 5,000 acres owned by the developer.

The council's approval seems likely, although City Manager Phil Speight and Fire Chief Jim Cavelieri cautioned that the budget commitee's recommendations are just that -- recommendations.

Cavilieri declined to comment on the role the new fire station would play in Henderson. He said that he did not want to do anything to pressure the City Council.

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, who led negotiations for the tax formula adjustment, said the budget committee's recommendation reflects the priorities of the community. Perkins also serves as deputy chief for Henderson Police.

Voters may have turned down a public tax hike twice in seven months, Perkins said, but those votes were registered "in an unprecedented time of public safety."

"We were victims of our own success," Perkins said. If the vote were taken today, in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., the outcome would be different, Perkins said.

The failed ballot question asked owners of a $100,000 home to pay an additional $84 each year for the next 30 years. Another ballot question rejected the previous November had asked for the same tax hike. It would have paid the salaries of 237 new public safety workers, including 166 patrol officers, 41 support staff members and 30 firefighters. They would have been hired over seven years. By February 2003, all 30 police officers hired through the federal grant and amended city budget should be trained and on the job.