Henderson:

Henderson expects continued fall in consolidated tax revenue until late 2010

Thursday, July 9, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Consolidated tax revenue — on the decline for more than two years — is expected to level off late next year and start to increase slightly by December 2010, Henderson Finance Director Steve Hanson said.

Consolidated tax is made up of mainly consumer taxes, which include sales, cigarette and liquor taxes. The county divides those taxes collected among local municipalities, based on population and sales receipts.

It represents about 45 percent of Henderson’s general fund.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Hanson gave an overview of the city’s financial status. He projected lower consolidated tax revenues in July and August of 2010, compared to the same months in previous years, but he said those numbers will steadily improve.

By November 2010, Hanson said, he hopes the falling revenue trend will level off, followed by a 1 percent increase in December 2010.

“I think we’re going to stabilize on a conservative basis,” he said. “If the economy does bounce back, I think those projections will turn out to be better.”

Revenue from property taxes is expected to decline through 2011, he said.

To cope with shrinking revenue, the city has instituted a hiring freeze, reduced departmental budgets by 10 percent, with the exception of public safety, cut annual cost-of-living increases for most city employees, instituted an early retirement program and put many construction projects on hold.

“All of those factors offset in any reduction in consolidated tax so far,” Hanson said.

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By LasVegas2009

July 8, 2009

11:01 a.m.

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So when are they going to start cutting the pay of the public loafers? Time to implement an across the board 10% pay decrease on every city employee. Followed by 2 5% decreases over the next year one every 6 months. Only spend the money taken in and not a penny more.
By bdover

July 9, 2009

12:15 a.m.

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For once, I agree with LV2009. And anyone who thinks that the public servants won't take the cuts is confused. Their Union, Hoffa's Teamsters, will whine and complain, but there's really little they can do about it. The alternative for the whiners is to go out into the DPS-Dreaded Private Sector-where they would really have to work hard.

But there are no homes to inspect, no plans to check. So they hide in the Redevelopment Agency. Sit in the little trucks under a tree during the day. We need to have a number to call to report the layabouts doing nothing. For the cops and the fireloafers, too.....
By term25600

July 9, 2009

5:58 a.m.

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Government at all levels has gotten bloated. Its an easy ride, and government has grown to expect an ever increasing take of the pie and to be insulated from economic realities. Hey, this is cool if you can get it, but us taxpayers are just fed up with having to take the brunt of reality while government people are expecting to maintain their lifestyle .

We lived with smaller government in the past, with civil servants making less, and having less extravagant retirements.

Government has to be scaled back to correspond to economic reality. Period.