Plan would sign rebate checks over to schools

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

As the state is preparing to distribute $300 million in rebate checks, Clark County School Board member Susan Brager-Wellman hopes some of the recipients will consider signing the money over to the school district.

Under Gov. Kenny Guinn's plan as approved by the 2005 Legislature, motorists will receive rebates of about $75 to $275 each depending on the vehicle registration fees they paid in 2004. Seniors 65 and older who did not register a vehicle will be entitled to rebate of $75 each as long as they have a valid ID card issued by the DMV.

At Thursday's School Board meeting Brager-Wellman will ask her colleagues to support the establishment of a special committee to handle rebates donated to the district. If the district launches a campaign asking people to donate their rebates the money should be shared equally by all campuses, Brager-Wellman said.

"We want people to support the district as a whole," Brager-Wellman said. "This would be a great way of demonstrating that."

Brager-Wellman said she plans to lead by example and will donate her own rebate check to the district.

Having the district's central office handle the donations would also remove the bookkeeping responsibilities from the shoulders of individual schools, Brager-Wellman said.

"The last thing we want to do is create more work for anybody," Brager-Wellman said.

With 312 schools set to open Aug. 29, including 11 new campuses, there's no shortage of opportunities for spending the rebates, Brager-Wellman said.

"In my fantasy every school would get $10,000," she said. "I'm very much a realist and I know we might not see anything like that but if you don't try then you're just staying in the same rut."

Keith Schwer, executive director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, agreed with Brager-Wellman's philosophy that "you're not going to get anything if you don't ask."

Convincing Nevadans to turn over their rebates to the School District will require clearing logistical and philosophical hurdles, however.

Unlike a federal income tax form that includes a box for donations to the president's campaign debt, there is no mechanism in place for automatically transferring the DMV rebate to the School District.

"It will take some effort to do this and some people may not have the energy or interest," Schwer said. "My gut reaction is that this plan won't raise a lot of money."

However, Schwer said he has heard from numerous area residents who have questioned why the state would return the $300 million rather than put the funds toward long-term improvement projects or deposit the money in the rainy day fund for future use. Signing over their rebate checks to the School District would be one way for people to demonstrate that viewpoint, Schwer said.

Brager-Wellman may have hit upon a "brilliant idea," said State Treasurer Brian Krolicki.

"But it's brilliance will be contingent upon how many people will actually do it," Krolicki said. "There's no doubt there are some people in Nevada who wouldn't have minded if the $300 million had been used differently. And there's no doubt there will be people delighted to get this money back because they believe they were overtaxed."

As for Krolicki, his rebate check is destined for deposit.

"There are three little Krolicki girls ages 7, 5 and 3 and they all have their college saving funds," he said. "It will be easy to put the money in there and watch it compound for 10 or 15 years."