Election 2002: Question 10

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002 | 11:32 a.m.

An advisory question to funnel $2.7 billion to regional transit and road improvements has support from groups that rarely agree on anything else.

The Sierra Club, the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, local elected boards, the chambers of commerce from throughout Clark County and both of Las Vegas' daily newspapers have all signed on to the effort to support Question 10.

Regional Transportation Commission officials say the Fair Share Transportation Funding Program is key to staving off increased gridlock. Funding targets include full construction of the Las Vegas Beltway, an expanded bus system, a light-rail commuter train and many other projects.

Approval of the ballot measure is advisory but would aid the RTC and regional officials in lobbying the Legislature next year for the taxes.

"Our community is facing a grim future if we do nothing," RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said. "Even with every dollar anticipated over the next 23 years in local, state and federal funding, our roadways will be packed with 2,300 miles of gridlock traffic by 2025.

"We will pay tenfold or more in lost time and services because personal vehicles, delivery vehicles and emergency vehicles can't get where they need to go."

Two separate efforts to find people to write sample-ballot arguments against the advisory measure found three people. Their argument is in two parts.

One issue they cite is that sales taxes, which would provide more than $2 billion of the total, should not be used for transportation needs.

The opponents also argue that the RTC board improperly changed a community coalition's funding formula to overly rely on the sales tax increase, which would bring the county's total tax to 7.5 percent.

The RTC earlier this month brought the coalition back together to endorse the funding formula. Other sources of income include a penny-per-gallon tax on aviation fuel and a gradual increase in residential and business development fees.

"They're asking for a lot, a very lot, of money," retired Los Angeles city attorney Kenneth Williams said. He has criticized some of the funding priorities for the RTC, including the plan to build hundreds of miles of bicycle trails in the Las Vegas Valley.

"The people who are going to vote should be concerned that this money is going to be spent only to improve traffic and yield an appropriate benefit."

Williams, one of three men who wrote the argument against the issue, said the transportation funding should rely more on gasoline taxes -- taxing the people who use the roads.

The RTC removed the proposed gas tax increase after surveys showed widespread opposition, Snow said. Surveys also showed that most people were more willing to accept a quarter-cent increase in the sales tax.

RTC board chairman and Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury has estimated that the cost per person, per month of the tax package will be about $1.25.