NLV pitches change in tax distribution

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, March 2, 2005 | 9:42 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- North Las Vegas officials made their pitch Tuesday to change the Consolidated Tax, a group of sales taxes in Southern Nevada that will yield an estimated $957 million in the coming fiscal year.

City officials argue they have lost $62 million since 1999 because of a flaw in the way the money is distributed.

Assembly Bill 144 would give the city another $10 million a year in the base amount it receives to stop the "six years of disparity and hemorrhaging that has been happening," North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon said.

The city will lose even more of its fair share as it grows, said finance director Phil Stoeckinger.

"This problem that we have because of the base isn't going to correct itself over time," he said. "It's going to get worse."

The city argues that its residents received an average per capita amount of $277 from the tax in fiscal year 2004.

In contrast, Boulder City received $527, Las Vegas residents received an average $402, and Henderson residents received an average $374, according to the city.

"I'm not a numbers guy," said Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, one of several legislators from the city who showed up in support of the bill. "All I know is what I see on paper, and what I see on paper is inequitable."

Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, and Assemblyman Bob McCleary, D-North Las Vegas, also supported the bill.

The Legislature made adjustments to the tax in 2001 to help growing cities such as Henderson, which complained at the time it wasn't getting its fair share. The city received a $4 million adjustment to its base that year.

Representatives of the county, as well as Henderson and Las Vegas, argued Tuesday that the adjustment still works for growing cities. North Las Vegas' plan would hurt the rest of the governments in Clark County, they said.

Clark County, for example, could lose $3.7 million if North Las Vegas were given an extra $10 million, said George Stevens, Clark County's chief financial officer.

Las Vegas could lose $3.5 million -- enough to build a new fire station and staff about half of the firemen needed to run it -- said director of finance Mark Vincent, who argued that North Las Vegas gets a higher amount per capita than other cities do.