Las Vegas approves first $1 billion budget

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 | 12:41 p.m.

Before passing Las Vegas' first $1 billion budget, the City Council on Tuesday told its staff to think lean, even as economic times improve, and warned department managers to be ready to prove the need to hire new employees.

The budget, approved by a 6-0 vote, takes effect July 1 and runs through June 30, 2004.

The council approved spending $415.6 million on general fund expenses. The general fund is discretionary money used to pay for the myriad services provided by the city. It makes up about 40 percent of the total budget.

Metro Police gobbles up 25 percent of the general fund budget. Under the consolidation agreement that created Metro, the city covers a portion of the Metro budget and the county pays for the rest.

Funding for all public safety matters, including Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, accounts for 60 percent of Las Vegas' general fund expenditures.

Expenditures on recreation for the public make up 9 percent of the budget.

And 20 percent of the total general fund expenditures fall under what the city classifies as "public services" -- the City Council, Municipal Court, field operations, the city attorney's office, city auditor's office, finance, human resources, support staffs and supplies for all those offices.

Nearly half of all funding will come from $210 million in consolidated taxes, money collected from counties and redistributed to municipalities by the state. Another $86 million will come from property taxes and another $46 million will come from franchise fees, according to the budget.

Councilman Larry Brown, expressing concerns that the budget could be leaner, called for more in-depth analysis when it comes time for the fiscal 2006 budget.

He directed the city to examine its wants versus its needs to provide services; determine whether city services duplicate what is offered by the private sector, non-profits and government agencies; and analyze how -- or whether -- the level of service to the public is affected by budget cuts.

Brown said he wanted the staff to conduct the analysis because he feels that too often jobs are filled at the city on the catch-all phrase that if positions or programs are cut, "the service level will suffer."

"I want to quantify that," Brown said.

Brown said that two years ago, when the city had a 10 percent rate of unfilled positions, millions of dollars were saved and citizens still received services. His said for fiscal 2005, there is just a 4 percent job vacancy rate.

Mayor Oscar Goodman agreed that to "quantify the concept with statistics" would help the city to better prepare next year's budget.

Overall, the city, with 551,000 residents, will have $896.6 million in total fiscal 2005 revenues, not quite offsetting $1.008 billion in total expenses.

Finance Director Mark Vincent said the reason the city can spend $111.9 million more than it will receive is because there is "a carry over" of unspent funds from the current fiscal year -- including $76 million in capital project money -- to cover those extra amount and balance the budget at $1 billion.

The city is budgeting $403 million for capital improvements, including $140 million for roads and flood control, $125 million for parks and leisure activities and $46 million for city facilities.

The Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency's budget also was approved Tuesday and includes $9.8 million in tax increment financing revenues vs. $8.8 million in expenses, including $6.3 million in debt service and $700,000 in operating services and supplies.