State puts the screws to Clark County

Tony Cook and J. Patrick Coolican

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 | 6:51 a.m.

CARSON CITY - There have been many losers this legislative session, but the most prominent teeth-gritting is coming from Clark County officials.

Commissioners are still waiting for a final analysis from staff on just how bad the legislative session turned out for the county. What's clear, though, is that the news won't be good, from the county's standpoint.

"I think we've taken some pretty good hits," Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said.

Legislators, including some from Clark County, disagree that the county is being treated unfairly. They point to healthy increases for it in some areas, including child welfare.

Nevertheless, the state's transportation funding plan will divert $14 million a year in property taxes from the county, officials said. That figure is likely to increase each year with rising property values.

The "green" tax breaks that lawmakers are giving to businesses that build to eco-friendly standards could cost the county up to $300 million over 10 years, an analyst said.

Then there are smaller items, such as adding six judges to the Eight Judicial District, which encompasses the county, in 2009. That, it's estimated, will cost the county $4.3 million for support staff such as bailiffs and clerks, plus $7 million to $8 million to house the judges.

The political calculus in pushing costs on to the county goes like this: State revenue is tight. Curtailing spending for schools or asking more from taxpayers is politically unpalatable. And in Nevada, leaning too much on the tourism industry can be risky.

The safe bet? Put the burden on Clark County. Who cares if one government dumps on another?

Woodbury said Southern Nevada lawmakers are especially guilty.

The attitude is fed by a perception in Carson City that Clark County is better off financially than the rest of the state. As Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas , chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said: "They've got more money than God."

The county's case was not helped when a Sun analysis this year found that its overtime has risen by 140 percent since fiscal 2002, and the county had no ready explanation.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, and Arberry took issue with Woodbury's premise about the Legislature's treatment of Clark County.

On the transportation plan, Buckley noted that all the money raised in the county will stay in the county, and that road improvement projects will be good for it and its residents.

She also said when transportation funding ideas were discussed, the county suggested that the state take money from county capital projects. (This fails to note that at the start, many ideas were rattling around as ways to raise revenue, but nearly all of them magically disappeared.)

If the Legislature hadn't taken action on the green building breaks, Buckley said, the county would have been hit even harder.

Finally, the money to the county for child welfare has doubled in four years, Buckley said.

Still, the transportation plan puts at risk several county capital improvement projects, including a new low-level offender facility to ease overcrowded jail space, a new facility for the Southern Nevada Health District and several regional park projects.

County Commissioner Tom Collins blamed Gov. Jim Gibbons and his no-new-taxes pledge.

Collins, a Democrat, used an obscenity to describe the Republican governor, before adding, "Our legislators cut the best deal we could under this stupid pledge of the governor's. They had to cut the best deal they could with this yahoo from Sparks."

Largely thanks to its conservative revenue projections, Clark County stands on firm financial ground compared with many other jurisdictions. Thus, when the state is looking for someone to absorb some of its financial woes, the county is an obvious target, county officials said.

"I think that is part of the attitude," Woodbury said. "We have conservative financial policies and make sure we stay afloat and can pay our bills. But as the legislators who become county commissioners find out, there are an awful lot of needs that aren't being met."

Collins was more blunt: "The county government and many other agencies here, we've been taking care of our issues. Because of some other areas of the state aren't, he decided to come in and rob us."

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, a former assemblywoman, said it's easy to forget about the county's needs from 450 miles away in Carson City.

"I was guilty of it as well as a legislator," Giunchigliani said. She said her attitude was: "They've got the money . Let them take care of it.

"Because we are fairly prudent, people almost want to punish you."

But the county bears some blame, she said. Its lobbying efforts were too little, too late.

"It's all about relationships when you go to Carson City," she said. "Now we've got a two-year period to build those relationships."