Safety at NLV airport lands on board’s agenda this week

By Joe Schoenmann

Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The closing of University Medical Center’s outpatient cancer clinic, a possible quarter-cent reduction in the sales tax and safety at North Las Vegas Airport are among the issues up for discussion by Clark County commissioners this week.

What’s the latest on the efforts to reduce the number of airplane accidents at North Las Vegas Airport?

A few weeks ago, Randall Walker, Clark County director of aviation, gave a report to the commission after two fatal plane crashes near the Airport. One possible factor in the high rate of accidents connected to that airport is that many private pilots and general aviators who use the facility “have less training and more discretion” than most of the commercial and corporate pilots who use McCarran International Airport, Walker said.

This week, commissioners are expected to approve a resolution asking Nevada’s congressional delegation to draft legislation that would “specifically state what aeronautical activity may be conducted at each airport within the Clark County Airport System.”

Walker will be directed to work with the Federal Aviation Administration to improve safety at the North Las Vegas Airport. The hope is that the use of the airport by student pilots and anyone flying experimental aircraft can be restricted. Some, if not all, of those fliers, for example, might be required to use the airport in Jean, which is not surrounded by neighborhoods and commercial corridors.

What’s going on with the oncology clinic at UMC? Is there suddenly a chance it might be reopened?

No, no chance of that, unfortunately.

The county-supported hospital announced two weeks ago it was closing the clinic. The Clark County Commission also approved cuts in the hospital’s high-risk obstetric unit, its outpatient kidney dialysis service, outpatient mammography program, outpatient coumadin therapy, post-emergency hand clinic and prenatal services at the Women’s Center.

The moves stem in part from the overall economic downturn in Nevada. After budget cuts at the state level, Medicaid payments to the hospital will fall by about $20 million.

At the same time, Nevada Cancer Institute decided to quit its three-year contract with UMC after roughly one year of providing outpatient cancer services to the hospital. At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners are to approve the two termination agreements formalizing the UMC-NVCI separation.

Where are the patients who were treated by NVCI going to go?

That remained to be seen last week. UMC is working with other health care providers to “facilitate a smooth transition of patients … to third-party providers to ensure continuity of care,” the agreements say.

What is this quarter-cent sales tax item you mentioned?

Ten years ago, Clark County commissioners increased the sales tax by a quarter-cent and earmarked that increased tax revenue for water and wastewater projects. The commissioners are required to periodically review whether the sales tax increase can be eliminated. They are to do that this week, and they will keep it in place. The Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has received $418 million of the $665 million that the quarter-cent tax increase has generated, is counting on the sales tax revenue to continue for expensive projects such as the third intake pipe to pull water out of Lake Mead. The tax increase is still set to expire, however, on June 30, 2025, or when the revenue it generates reaches $2.3 billion, whichever comes first. In 2004, the water authority convened the Integrated Water Planning Advisory Committee, which recommended that, when necessary, the water authority should pursue an extension of the quarter-cent sales tax “to help fund future/additional water infrastructure.”

Can the revenue for water and wastewater projects be found elsewhere?

“Without the quarter-cent sales tax, water and wastewater projects would be funded solely through regional rates and connection charges,” County Manager Virginia Valentine notes in the backup documentation given to the commission. And at least with sales tax, some of the burden is spread to visitors in addition to residents. “Roughly one-third of all sales tax collected — or more than $220 million to date — is attributed to visitors,” Valentine notes.