Hands off city’s redevelopment money, for now

By Sam Skolnik

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The Culinary Union lost its battle to transform how the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency spends its money, when the state Supreme Court deemed two Culinary-sponsored ballot measures invalid.

One of the Culinary’s primary objections to the agency was that while it gave huge tax breaks to developers, several bread-and-butter government obligations, such as education, got short shrift.

During the recently concluded legislative session, a few like-minded state lawmakers worked to see that the Culinary’s efforts weren’t in vain.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley’s measure, Assembly Bill 458, came a hair’s breadth from becoming law before the veto of Gov. Jim Gibbons was upheld by the state Senate last week.

In other words, after months of drama, those hoping to change how the city spends its redevelopment dollars failed.

But with Nevada governments — state and local — watching tax revenues decline, Las Vegas will likely have to continue defending and justifying how it spends the pot of tax dollars set aside for redevelopment.

Of the various bills on the topic, Buckley’s was the one with the most teeth, the one that got the city’s attention early in the legislative session and sent city lobbyists into overdrive trying to lessen its reach.

The legislation would have created a “rainy day fund” for education within each of the state’s redevelopment agencies, to make sure some of the taxes raised by redevelopment efforts reach public schools.

“RDAs create value, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of education,” Buckley said in a recent interview.

Under current law, the city’s redevelopment agency must set aside 18 percent of revenue for affordable housing. There is no similar requirement for education.

Buckley’s bill would have lowered the affordable housing percentage slightly, to 15 percent, and mandated that another 15 percent go toward education.

The bill would have done something necessary for a tax-averse state, Buckley said. As local governments such as Las Vegas race to rebuild blighted sections of their downtowns, her bill would have “ensured that schools will be funded,” she said — so that poor and middle-income taxpayers living in those areas have decent schools for their children.

Las Vegas officials have argued that the city’s redevelopment agency has bolstered education funding by spurring development, resulting in additional tax revenue for education.

Gibbons said in his veto note that he didn’t object to a rainy-day fund, but he disapproved of Buckley’s measure because it didn’t “create similar funds for other areas of state government.”

Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio said he voted to uphold the veto in part because he didn’t want to divert money from redevelopment districts.

Buckley’s bill ultimately would have allocated $2 million per year from the city’s agency to education instead of redevelopment projects, said Scott Adams, the city’s chief urban redevelopment officer. As the end of the session approached, the city was prepared to accept defeat and pony up.

“This was a (legislative) session where everyone gave at least a little,” Adams said.

But the ideal outcome for the city was having its redevelopment agency untouched, to allow the agency to continue to provide the same level of tax and revenue incentives to lure developers downtown, said Adams and Mayor Oscar Goodman. And that’s what happened.

Said Adams: “We are pleased about the outcome of the legislative session as it relates to the RDA. Our tools remain intact and we look forward to continuing our work of rebuilding the Redevelopment Area and assisting businesses and citizens located in those areas.”

Though for now the agency won’t be touched, it will likely remain in the cross hairs of a powerful lawmaker and a politically involved union.