Public hearings to be held on county, cities’ budgets

Friday, May 16, 2003 | 11:42 a.m.

Public hearings on the municipal budgets will be held this week, to meet a Tuesday deadline to submit them to the state. When and where:

10 a.m. Monday, County Government Center.

9 a.m. Tuesday, Las Vegas City Hall.

7 a.m. Tuesday, Boulder City Hall.

4 p.m. Tuesday, North Las Vegas City Hall.

7 p.m. Tuesday, Henderson City Hall.

Public hearings and votes are scheduled for Tuesday on proposed budgets calling for more police and firefighters in Henderson and North Las Vegas, and more spending on parks and a swimming pool in Boulder City.

Clark County and Las Vegas budgets that provide more money for Metro Police, but not as much as the consolidated department requested, will be heard Monday and Tuesday.

All of the hearings will be followed by a vote, in order to meet a Tuesday deadline to have approved budgets submitted to the state.

None of the proposed budgets calls for a tax increase. North Las Vegas includes increases to some building permit fees, and Las Vegas calls for a raise in sewer fees and fees to developers.

North Las Vegas is also in the process of reviewing its water and sewer rates, although those rates are left unchanged in the proposed budget.

Any permit or rate increases would have to be approved by separate City Council votes.

The proposed budgets for North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City call for using unspent money from previous years, called reserves, to balance their general fund budgets for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The general fund is the cities' primary operating fund that pays for departments such as police, fire and public works.

Las Vegas' budget does not cut into its reserve, but budget director Mark Vincent has said that future growth could force the city to rely on its $56 million reserve.

Highlights of the local governments' budgets and their primary issues:

County officials have said they are struggling to deal with a population that continues to grow at a time when revenue growth is lagging. The county also is dealing with a financial crisis at in the University Medical Center system, the region's largest health-care provider.

The proposed budget calls for spending $500,000 on improvements at Veterans Memorial Park and $640,000 for pool upgrades, including a new chlorination system.

The proposed budget calls for adding six firefighters/paramedics and 10 police officers, which would help those departments keep up with increasing demand, city officials have said.

Under that plan, 30 full-time employees would be added at the Police Department and 15 more firefighters would be hired. The new hires would give the city enough staff to open a new police substation and fire station.

The city has only between $35 million and $55 million to cover about $126 million in requested projects.