New rail system outlined for lawmakers

Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | 9:36 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Construction on a proposed light rail system from Henderson to the Strip would not begin until 2008 at the earliest, Regional Transportation Commission General Manager Jacob Snow said Tuesday.

Although engineering and environmental work has already begun, Snow told the Senate and Assembly Transportation committees that the $70 million project won't get under way until the federal government comes up with a good portion of the cost.

Voters passed a $2.7 billion plan for transportation improvements, and the Legislature soon will consider a bill to allow the funding to go forward, according to Bryan Gresh, lobbyist for the RTC.

But Snow said Tuesday that the RTC will rely on federal money for the light rail because it currently gets none of the federal fund that finances rail systems.

The first phase of the project would run from downtown Henderson to Sunset Road and Gillespie Street near McCarran International Airport, where a new transportation center would be located. The second phase would run along the east side of the Strip to North Las Vegas.

It would use diesel-powered locomotives and Union Pacific tracks, Snow said.

Snow said the majority of the money for the project must come from the federal fund that finances transit systems. Because Nevada does not have any commuter light rail systems, all of the money from that $3 billion-a-year fund has been going to other states, Snow said.

Three cents of the federal gas tax of 18 cents goes into this pot, Snow said. Nevada has effectively been subsidizing other states such as New York, California, Utah and Arizona, Snow said.

Under the financing plan for the transportation improvements, the sales tax would be raised one-quarter of a percent to 7.5 percent; jet aviation fuel taxes would be increased 1 cent a gallon; and 2 cents of the property tax would be allocated for transportation projects.

There also would be a higher development tax. The current development tax is $500 per residential unit and 50 cents per square foot for commercial space. The plan calls for the residential tax to go up by $150 to $650 this year and rise to $1,000 by 2020. The commercial tax would rise 15 cents per square foot this year from the current 50 cents. It is expected to rise incrementally until it reaches $1 by 2020.

In related news, Snow noted that President Bush's budget includes $40 million to start the second leg of the Las Vegas monorail to connect the Strip with downtown Las Vegas.