Week in Review: Clark County

Monday, Nov. 12, 2007 | 7:06 a.m.

Smut peddlers are returning fire in what is shaping up to be a feisty battle over Clark County's plan to quadruple its news rack permit fee.

And what kind of ammunition are the smut distributors using?

Their favorite kind, of course: the First Amendment.

Here's their argument.

The county requires a permit (cost: $25 annually per news rack) in areas zoned H-1, which is a fancy way of saying resort corridors. This includes the Strip and surrounding areas, plus a few other places, such as Laughlin.

Almost all of the 2,770 news racks in those locations contain adult-themed advertising publications. Distributors of those publications estimate there are another 8,300 news racks outside the resort areas. The majority of those publications are not adult-themed, they say.

Conclusion: The county is making adult-themed publications pay for the cost of policing news racks countywide. The practical effect is a "de facto content-based restriction upon protected expression," according to a letter to the county from several adult publication distributors.

The letter also notes that the companies "would deem it cost effective from a business standpoint to mount a joint constitutional challenge."

Faithful readers will remember that public works deputy Leslie Henley said the fee increase is needed to pay the cost of enforcing the county's news rack laws.

How much does that cost?

According to public works officials, $338,748 a year. The $25 permit fee covers only 20 percent of that. Taxpayers make up the difference. If the fee is increased to $100, as proposed, it would cover 82 percent of the cost.

But if the county wants to raise more money, it should increase the number of people who pay, rather than the amount, said Eddie Munoz, whose Strip Advertising owns 600 to 700 of the permitted news racks. He wants all news rack operators, not just those in resort areas, to pay for enforcement.

"It's excessive," he said of the proposed fee. "They think we are making all this money in the adult business and we aren't. For the county to use this strategy to put us out of business is wrong."

Henley, however, argues that the system is fair because news racks on the Strip are responsible for the vast majority of his crew's work.

Ultimately, it's up to county commissioners, who are expected to vote on the proposal Nov. 20.

What other fee did commissioners agree to increase this week?

The one that Las Vegas charges the county to house its inmates.

The Clark County Detention Center is bursting at the seams. It has a capacity of 2,973, but it housed about 3,100 inmates Friday.

As a result, detainees are often farmed out to the jails of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Lincoln County.

In recent years, the county has paid those jurisdictions $70 per inmate per day, but commissioners approved a new deal with Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The new fee will be $96.96, and will go up each year based on the consumer price index. The new agreement runs through April 2011.

Metro Police Deputy Chief Leroy Kirkegard, who oversees detention services, said the new number was arrived at by calculating Las Vegas' operational costs and dividing that by the number of inmates.

Although the new rate is significantly higher, it's not that bad compared with the cost of housing inmates at the county's detention center. That carries a daily price tag of about $115 per inmate, Kirkegard said.

Other jurisdictions still are charging $70, but Henderson is expected to increase its rate soon, Kirkegard said.

The county had 171 detainees in the Las Vegas jail Friday and 177 in other jurisdictions' facilities.

The higher cost will add up fast. The county inmates in Las Vegas' jail cost the county $16,580 Friday, about $4,600 more than they would have at the $70 rate.

Who got surgery last week?

If you said Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, you win an old hearing aid.

The longest serving commissioner in the state's history suffers from progressive deafness. Over the years, he has come to rely more on reading lips and, during commission meetings, closed captioning.

He had a cochlear implant inserted into his right ear in 2002. It helped a lot, Woodbury says. On Friday, he got an implant on his left side.

The surgery will sideline him for about a week, but his office expects him to be back in action before the next commission meeting, on Nov. 20.