Measures net mixed support

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.

A sales tax increase aimed at helping Clark County police departments keep pace with the Las Vegas Valley's explosive growth won a narrow victory Tuesday night.

The Clark County Advisory Question, No. 9 on the ballot, received 267,535 "Yes" votes, 51.6 percent, and 251,143 "No" votes, 48.4 percent, according to complete but unofficial results from the Clark County Election Department.

Meanwhile, an initiative that would ask the Legislature to change the Nevada Constitution to bar "unfunded mandates," laws that add to the duties cash-strapped governments must perform, was handed a significant victory.

Question No. 10 on Clark County ballots received 296,583 "Yes" votes, 61.7 percent, and 184,525 "No" votes, 38.3 percent, according to the unofficial totals.

The sales tax ballot question asked voters to approve a 1/4 cent sales tax increase. The increase would start in July and would be followed in July 2009 by a second 1/4 cent increase. The total 8 percent increase would bring the county's total sales tax rate to 8 percent.

The question was an advisory issue and will go to the Legislature next year for approved.

Sheriff Bill Young, a principal architect of the initiative, credited the campaign's success to a hard-fought campaign to garner support in a state notorious for opposing taxes.

"I think we made a good campaign," Young said Tuesday. "It'll probably be the last tax advisory question passed in my lifetime."

The tax increase would mean more police officers for Metro, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite police departments. Each department has fallen below the national average of 2.5 officers for every 1,000 citizens.

Metro has 1.7 officers per 1,000 residents, North Las Vegas has 1.4, Henderson 1.1, Mesquite 1.3 and Boulder City 1.9.

Young has estimated that the increased revenue in the first 10 years would be enough to hire 1,278 Metro officers, 227 in Henderson, 151 in North Las Vegas, 16 in Boulder City and 14 in Mesquite.

"I really view this as a critical issue right now," Young said. "We need to be running on all cylinders."

The sheriff said not having the additional officers would "make (the department's) job much tougher than it needs to be" as officers struggle to keep up with the population, which is expected to continue growing in coming years.

He and others have said having more officers would allow the departments to patrol neighborhoods and become better acquainted with residents, instead of running from call to call investigating crimes that have already occurred.

In 2003 Metro, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and Mesquite police responded to 175 murders, 688 rapes, 4,396 robberies, 15,995 burglaries, 36,641 vehicle collisions and 17,914 car thefts.

Metro also recorded a 2 percent increase in violent crime and a 20.3 percent increase in property crime last year, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.

The unfunded mandate question was modeled after a 1992 effort that asked the Legislature to stop passing such mandates, although the most recent drive takes it a step further.

Although the Legislature passed a law shortly after the measure was passed that technically outlawed unfunded mandates, the Nevada Association of Counties found that the state routinely included legal language that exempted particular bills from the law.

Every county except Douglas had the measure on their ballots. The Clark County Commission in May passed a resolution in support of the question. Douglas County acted too late to put the question on its ballot but passed a resolution supporting the measure.