RTC: $169 million in bonds will create 2,000 jobs

By Kyle B. Hansen

Thursday, June 10, 2010 | 12:47 p.m.

The Regional Transportation Commission promises 2,000 more jobs are on the way as funding was approved Thursday for various road projects around Clark County.

But how many of those jobs will go to local workers remains to be seen.

The commission’s board approved issuing $169 million in bonds to fund 11 construction projects, the design work for a number of future projects and maintenance work for dozens of area roads.

The bonds, which should be issued by Aug. 11, will be paid with money raised from the 1/8th cent sales tax that was extended by the Legislature in a special session earlier this year.

Mike Hand, the commission’s director of engineering, said an economic analysis of road projects in Las Vegas concluded that one job was created for every $84,400 spent on projects.

They will be “all types of different jobs,” Hand said. “Heavy-equipment operators, civil engineers, architects, surveyors -- anything possibly imaginable in the construction field.”

But board members expressed concern that those jobs might go to contractors from out of state.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he is upset when he goes to construction sites only to hear the men in hard hats say they are excited to return to other states when the project is over.

State law allows the commission to give a 5 percent preference to local contractors, meaning that the contract can go to a local contractor, instead of the lowest bidder, if the local bid is within 5 percent of the lower price, Hand said.

But that 5 percent preference is “worthless,” Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross said. “It’s not enough to ensure that local companies and local firms are successful.”

Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said sometimes the project will go to a local general contractor who uses out-of-town subcontractors.

She asked the commission to make sure subcontractors are also local companies if the contractor is going to be given the preference.

Hand said he would have to work with the RTC’s legal staff to see what exactly the state law allows, but that they would do everything possible to keep the jobs local.

The projects funded by the bonds were selected by a committee based on each local municipalities’ list of priority projects. They all are considered “shovel-ready” and should be ready to go out to bid before the end of the year.

Of the $169 million, $29.2 million goes to projects in the unincorporated county, $29.7 goes to Las Vegas, $45.4 million goes to North Las Vegas, $16.9 million goes to Henderson, $3.9 million goes to Boulder City and $16 million goes to Mesquite.

An additional $3 million will go to maintenance projects in rural towns and $24 million will go to the RTC.