Wednesday, March 26, 2003 | 11:43 a.m.
Age: 67.
Occupation: Mayor for past four years. Mayor and/or councilman since 1976.
Education: University of Nevada, Reno, bachelor of science in agriculture and master of science on agriculture.
Endorsements: Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local 88; Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce; Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters; and the Southern Nevada Labor Council.
Mike Pacini
Age: 35.
Occupation: Clerk at Vons and councilman for past six years.
Education: Attended Community College of Southern Nevada, no degree.
Endorsements: None.
Bill Smith
Age: 77.
Occupation: Volunteer president of W & E Smith Foundation.
Education: Attended Penn State University, no degree.
Endorsements: None.
Bill Smith's claim that the Boulder City government faces a financial doomsday may get voters' attention. But the former city councilman and current mayoral candidate needs to say exactly how he would fix the problem in order to sway enough voters to his camp, a political expert says.
Smith points to financial projections included in a July report done for the city to back up his argument. The report done by Hobbs, Ong & Associates includes figures that show the city's expenditures exceeding annual revenues and bleeding the city's reserve account until it runs out of money in the 2009-10 fiscal year. The city, Smith says, will need to spend less in the future.
"The only solution is to cut services," Smith said. "We need to sit down and go over the budget line by line."
Smith, who was on the council from 1997 to 2001, won't say what he would cut. But he says voters should see him as the only mayoral candidate willing to give them the bad news.
That might not be enough to unseat incumbent Mayor Bob Ferraro, who has been mayor or a council member since 1976, said Michael Bowers, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"If you're going to go after an incumbent, you need to have a dramatic issue, and he does. But you also have to have a solution for that, and if you're not able to do that you'll be unable to overcome the advantage of incumbency," Bowers said. "Why would you elect someone if they say there's a problem and they don't know how to fix it?"
Ferraro as well as mayoral candidate and current City Councilman Mike Pacini say that while financial projections in the report show the city's reserve account dwindling to zero over the coming years, the situation is not as dire as Smith says.
Guy Hobbs and Kathy Ong, authors of the report, agreed with that assessment.
The report focused on the importance of letting the City Council have the power to lease city-owned land as it affected city finances, and not at the overall financial health of the city, Hobbs said.
The long-range financial projections included in the report were based on revenue and expenditure forecasts that could easily be changed by the actions of the elected officials, he said.
Ferraro pointed out that the report's projections did not account for expected revenue from leasing city-owned land in the Eldorado Valley to Copper Mountain Power for a natural-gas power plant. The potential lease of additional land in the valley to Duke Solar Energy for a solar plant also was not accounted for in the projections, Ferraro said.
The projections forecast expenditures growing at a rate of 4.5 percent a year, and Pacini said if the council can reduce that growth rate just a little, it would have a significant impact on the long-range projections.
"If any one of these comes to fruition, we reverse that trend," Ferraro said, adding that instead of deficits the city would see surpluses.
"I feel very comfortable with out financial situation," Pacini said. "Mr. Smith is assuming we're not planning."
Even if Smith's right, Ferraro says, the city still has about six or seven years to head off any financial problems.
Smith says pinning the financial fix on leases that haven't happened yet is too much of a gamble.
"You shouldn't be running your business on hope," Smith said.
In addition, Smith said, the decisions of the past two years to build a new golf course and second water line to Lake Mead will only make matters worse.
Together the city borrowed more than $55 million for the projects, money that Smith says city taxpayers will ultimately have to repay.
But Boulder City Finance Director Bob Kenney said the city's general fund will not be responsible for any of the money borrowed for those two projects.
The new water line, which cost $34 million, will be repaid by the city utility fund, Kenney said.
The new Boulder Creek Golf Club was built with an $8.7 million loan from the city utility fund, plus $10 million in revenue bonds, which are insured, Kenney said.
With his stand on the state of the city's finances, Smith has an issue that separates him from the other candidates.
Bowers said Pacini, like Smith, also needs to set himself apart from the incumbent.
"Generally there needs to be a reason not to vote for the incumbent," Bowers said.
Pacini is staying away from talking about Ferraro during the campaign, however.
"This has nothing to do with Mayor Ferraro. Bob has done an admirable job," Pacini said. "This is about Mike Pacini seeing a dream of being mayor. ... I don't want to say in 10 years, 'I wish I'd run for mayor.' "
Pacini said if elected mayor he would work to improve the appearance of the city's motels, possibly through the use of city redevelopment funds, and he would push for a new swimming pool. Whether he wins or loses the mayoral race, Pacini, in the middle of a second term as a councilman, will be able to further his agenda.
But Bowers said Pacini's chances are probably hurt by his support for pay raises for pay raises for the mayor and council.
The council was scheduled to vote on the matter Tuesday but postponed the matter.
Pacini said he still supports the measure, which he calls a pay adjustment not a raise. Pacini said the take-home pay for future elected officials is already going to be less than it is now because the health insurance and car allowances will be eliminated at the end of current council member's terms.
From the allowances, Pacini now gets $950 a month, which is equal to $11,400 a year. In September the voters amended the City Charter to eliminate those allowances.
The base annual salary for council members is $11,202 and the mayor is paid $13,898.
The proposed pay change would have increased the base salary for each council member by $6,000, and $7,500 for the mayor.
While Pacini argues this would not have been a raise, Ferraro, Smith and others called it a raise. Smith, an outspoken critic on the issue, and Ferraro promised not to accept any extra money if elected.
Ferraro's promise will probably negate any damage the issue of mayor and council pay raises might have on his campaign, Bowers said.
The city's primary election is April 8. Early voting continues through April 4. If any candidate takes more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary he is declared the winner, otherwise the top two candidates will face off in the June 3 general election.
archive
