Changes for auto smog testing proposed

Wednesday, April 3, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

Clark County and Regional Transportation Commission officials want drivers to make fewer trips to get their cars tested for smog, but to pay more each time.

They unveiled a plan Tuesday that would make the annual checks required only every other year, but raise the amount that goes to government from $5 apiece to $22, Air Quality Director Christine Robinson said. Charges from the smog check operators would be added to that.

The cost of smog checks in Clark County are currently capped by the state at $30.56, but that may have to be raised if the proposal passes, the officials gathered Tuesday said.

It would be part of a fall referendum to ask voters to back a $2.5 billion package of tax increases and development fees to fund new roads, mass transit and air pollution control measures. The Regional Transportation Commission will consider the proposal in May.

The shift should raise an extra $4.5 million a year for air quality programs, but Clark County Commissioner and RTC chairman Bruce Woodbury said, "The total cost for vehicles should be less than it is now."

The department's budget is now about $8.5 million.

The new plan also would be less burdensome on Clark County drivers, Commissioner Erin Kenny said.

The losers in the proposal would be smog check operators, who would see only half the number of customers they now have. Robinson and RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said their agencies haven't discussed the new proposal with the smog check operators, but would do so.

Woodbury said the additional air-quality money would go primarily to three programs: subsidies for repairs on cars that fail smog checks; establishment of clean-burning, alternative fuel stations; and a study of new ways to control urban haze.

The money also would be used to encourage more car pooling in the area.

State and federal law require all cars in the Las Vegas Valley to be smog checked before yearly registration. Failure means the owners must get sometimes costly repairs or stop driving the cars.

Woodbury said 98 percent of the cars tested pass the first time, so the existing program eliminates few cars from the roads.

The primary impact of the smog program is that people maintain their cars, Robinson said.

"The clean cars stay clean," she said.

The officials said they would not support the every-other-year proposal if it meant a loss of air quality.

All cars would still have to pass a first-time smog check before getting required Nevada registration, and cars emitting visible smoke can still be reported to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

In addition, the DMV's "remote sensing" program, inaugurated this week, can still identify vehicles emitting illegal levels of pollution.

The remote sensing will be done twice a year. It tests cars as they drive by and photographs the license plates of cars that fail. If the cars fail a second test, the owners cannot register the cars or get a renewal sticker for their license plate until the problem is repaired and the cars pass.

Some smog check kiosk operators said a new program that would cut their business volume in half would be tough.

"If they do that, I'll just close this and start some other business," said Jason Alsop, who runs Smog Checkers on Sunset Road. "We don't make that much -- maybe $800 a week in the winter, $2,000 in the summer.

"That's basically one person's paycheck," he said.

Alsop, who runs a single shop, said the impact of the proposed rule would be a lot harder on smaller operators. Some of the kiosks are operated by larger chains.

"They might do OK," Alsop said. "The people who only have a couple of shops, they're going to lose."

Some operators said they have invested thousands in new equipment to bring their businesses up to state standards. Most contacted Tuesday said they are unsure what the ultimate impact will be on their businesses.

"We're still discussing it," said Jim Lewis of Ebarhart Auto and Tire on West Charleston. He said his company invested about $18,000 in the new equipment.

The commissioners suggested that the economic impact on the operators was not the most important issue in the proposal.

"Our job is to do what's best for Southern Nevada residents and to keep the air clean," Kenny said.