Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn is proposing spending $321.9 million on constructing college, military and prison projects in Clark County over the next two years and he wants the state to borrow most of the money to pay for the work.
Guinn wants to spend $52 million of state money on hand for the program and proposes selling bonds to cover the difference.
Robin Reedy, deputy state treasurer, told the legislative budget committees Tuesday that an estimated $278 million in bonds would be sold during a three-year period to finance the construction. The interest to be paid on the 20-year bonds would be $199.2 million, based on a 6 percent rate of interest.
But Reedy said 6 percent is the most the state would pay. She called it a "worst case" scenario and said the state is now paying 4-5 percent. However she said the state's financial adviser, Nevada State Bank, suggested the 6 percent be used in computing the interest rate.
The biggest single project is a $58.5 million addition to the High Desert State Prison in Clark County to house another 600 inmates.
State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said, "The prison population has gone through the roof." He told members of the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee that the more than 360 inmates from Wyoming and Washington, who have been housed in Nevada, will be returned to those states to make room for the Nevada prisoners.
The prison population that has been growing at an average of 5.1 percent and 11,800 inmates are expected by fiscal year 2007.
In addition, there is $1.8 million in the Guinn budget to start advance planning for another prison at Indian Springs in Clark County. And the governor has recommended $20 million to reopen the Southern Nevada Correctional Center at Jean, which has been mothballed.
Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said it is "regressive" to just keep building prisons.
Comeaux replied there will be 1,700 new law enforcement officers in Clark County and five new district judges have been proposed. All of that will ressult in more people going to prison, he said.
Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, told Comeaux not to use siting of future prisons to promote economic growth in a community.
"That has failed in the past," Arberry said. A few prisons have been located in rural communities to try to help shore up the economy of the area in such places as White Pine and Pershing counties.
Guinn's budget includes $24.1 million for the UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. Members of the Greenspun family, who own of the Las Vegas Sun, are contributing $13 million to the $37.2 million project, according to the budget.
A $10 million classroom building is recommended for the Community College of Southern Nevada. And construction is planned for a Las Vegas Readiness Center for the Nevada National Guard at a cost of $23.1 million. Of the total, $13.1 million would come from the federal government and the rest from the state.
The state is also pushing ahead with plans to remove and replace tiles that have been falling off the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas.
Evan Dale of the state Public Works Board told the joint committees the project will cost $10.1 million but it is necessary because the falling tiles could kill someone.
The large ceramic tiles have been falling off the upper levels of the building and inspectors said they poses a significant danger to people entering and leaving the area.
Dale said confidential negotiations over who is liable for the failure of the tiles are ongoing.
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