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StumbleSouthern Nevada hit again to help bail out state
Money generated here for projects here snatched by lawmakers to fill budget deficit
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 | 2 a.m.
In Today's Sun
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- List of connection fees collected in Clark County’s jurisdiction Source: Clark County Reclamation District
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State lawmakers once again gave themselves permission to raid coffers in Clark County as they worked to balance Nevada’s budget in the waning hours of the special session.
The Legislature, as part of its $887 million package of fee hikes and spending cuts, approved taking up to $62 million from the Clean Water Coalition and another $25 million in capital funds from the Clark County School District.
Less than a year ago, during the 2009 regular session, state lawmakers enacted bills that Clark County officials claimed would cost them $180 million over two years.
“That money was collected for a specific project,” Commissioner Steve Sisolak said of the Clean Water Coalition funding. “The project never happened, so it should have gone back to the taxpayers who paid it. They have taken Southern Nevada money paid by Southern Nevada interests and are using it for a state purpose.”
While most of the coalition’s money came from developers and the gaming industry (see a complete list of connection fees here), large chunks also came from the School District and the county itself.
For example, from 2006-09, the School District paid $436,000 in such fees; $387,000 came from the Clark County Detention Center; McCarran International Airport paid about $600,000; and about $45,000 came from the Southwest Library. During the same period, casinos, resorts and hotels within Clark County’s jurisdiction paid connection fees totaling $10.9 million.
Only Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, opposed taking the funding.
“This thing is just bad for Clark County,” Coffin said. “They took all this money last session. And I voted for that. I hated it. I don’t feel good about it, and I wasn’t going to do it again, not at all, not for anything ...
“That money should have stayed in the county of origin. You either return it, or you spend it in the county of origin for things like social services.”
Coffin had said lawmakers justified targeting Southern Nevada because Clark County has continued to give its employees cost-of-living raises while state workers have had their pay cut 4.6 percent through furloughs. (The county employee pay increases were called for in collective bargaining agreements.)
The Clean Water Coalition was formed to build an $860 million pipeline that would improve water quality by returning treated wastewater deep into Lake Mead. However, the cities that formed the coalition — Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Clark County — decided in December that improved water treatment technologies would allow them to postpone the project indefinitely.
The coalition had not yet decided what to do with the money.
The latest state raid on local dollars prompted Sisolak to jokingly suggest Clark County adopt a new tax to be placed in a bank account for state lawmakers to draw upon every time they need to balance their budget.
Indeed, the special session was the latest chapter in a long story for Southern Nevada local governments. Because they lack home rule, cities and counties operate at the whim of the Legislature. The effects range from the tedious — getting permission from legislators on routine matters such as towing cars out of county parking lots and giving refunds at airport parking garages — to the taxing — hundreds of millions taken from local government coffers in the 2009 and special sessions.
The added insult, officials say, is that the pillaged local tax dollars are usually used to pay the expenses of the entire state.
After last year’s slash-and-burn regular session, a few lawmakers said it would have helped the county’s cause during the special session if commissioners had spent more time in Carson City talking with them.
Commissioner Larry Brown, who is also as chairman of the Clean Water Coalition, doubted that his presence in the Legislative Building would have changed the outcome.
“It’s their world. They communicate with people they want to communicate with,” he said, adding that no state legislator contacted him to say the coalition’s money were being targeted.
He criticized the move, saying the money was collected for the express purpose of building a pipeline and will now instead be used to balance the state budget.
Commissioner Tom Collins did talk with lawmakers about the water coalition. Although it didn’t stop them from taking that money, Collins thought the county benefitted from his presence by having to give up just $62 million this time around.
“I was brought into some meetings with the leadership of both houses, and realized that they didn’t want to hurt us,” he said, “they weren’t going after other agencies” besides the Clean Water Coalition.
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Once again, a clear cut example of the elected so called leaders taking tax payer dollars without representation and redirecting it. We must as a people stand up against the criminal lawmakers who should not have the right to spend public funds without first holding public hearings to show just cause and intent. These people are not to be trusted and prove it time and time again.
What happened in Massachusetts should happen here...a voter revolt with election results! We really need a change in our elected officials, and we need a State LOTTERY to help our financial picture...we should no longer care about Gaming's objections to a lottery...they turned their back on us. A LOTTERY will help with education and seniors funding.
Hey, Northern Nevada, thanks for taking our money. Be sure to complain if we try to take any of your water.
Here's the NEW state song they're singing up North...(sung to the tune of "Home Means Nevada" ask your kids...they should be able to hum it)
Home Means Nevada, home means the bills, decrease the wage, increase fines. But out by the Truckee's silvery rills, we will be doing just fine. Southern Nevada you got the most, so share it with all you can see, and up in the North we will be just fine, 'cause all this just won't affect me! YEAH!
Am I the only one who would like to see Clark county become the state of Las Vegas? and let the cattle and mining industries finish bleeding Nevada dry by paying no taxes? Think about it, a small state with a strong centralized population base.
I'm employed at a state-wide institution (but not a state employee) and the same thing happens there - the Las Vegas operations generates all the money and Reno essentially redirects it back to themselves.
I don't know how exactly the state legislature is structured, but needless to say it's obvious that the cards are stacked against Las Vegas.
By the way, great illustration by Chris Morris.
The north not only has water... but silver, gold & geothermal energy. We have more people. Do the math. All we need to do is vote.
What do you expect? Clark County sucks up most of the state money so it's only right that it should pay the most money.
So Las Vegas and Clark County has become the state piggybank?
If that's not BS I don't know what is, especially when our tax dollars are used to pay for services in rural and Northern Nevada where voters are mostly conservatives who hate government and consistently vote against local funding measures.
In other words, screw the teabaggers.
It is clear that we need to target and replace the Nevada law makers who have taken the easy way out and place the burden on "US" the taxpayers for their neglect. Who need a revolt against "do nothing" lazy law-makers. Let their track-records speak for them, and we should act accordingly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LIST OF LOSER WHITE ELEPHANTS:
SEWER DISCHARGE PIPELINE AT THE BOTTOM OF LAKE MEAD
WATER PIPELINE INTO NORTHERN NEVADA
THIRD DRAW PIPE INTO LAKE MEAD
LAS VEGAS MONORAIL
LAS VEGAS SPORTS COMPLEX
LAS VEGAS CITY HALL
ROCKET SHIP TO MOON
-
CAN ANYONE THINK OF ANY MORE CRACKPOT HAREBRAINED 'PROJECTS' FROM 'CONNECTED' POLITICOS 'PALS' TO WASTE MONEY ON....?
I BET YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH DOUGH *YOU* PONIED UP THIS THIS GARBAGE..........
Screw the northern and rural Nevada teabaggers.
Those idiots are giving away Nevada's gold for practically nothing while Southern Nevadans pay for their local services with our tax dollars. That's f'n insane.
"Screw the northern and rural Nevada teabaggers."
Not all of us up here are hyper-conservative, anti-tax screwballs. We have to put up with them just as much as you do, and at the local level their particular brand of conservatism hurts a lot worse than it does at the state level.
I'm sorry but if we had a lottery and it made money for our schools, they would just cut the original budget, and you have the same budget on lottery money. They did the same thing in California and things got no better for the kids. They would still ask for more money, while stealing the lottery money from the coffers.
If we have all this money, then what is the local Southern Nevada government doing? Wake up and it's about time you figure out some projects for the region or return the money to the taxpayers before the state take every penny out. The state politicians already know where to get the money and they will not stop until they spend all of it.
Many recent transplants don't remember the stories from the 1980s and 1990s of NDOT employees proudly spending the state's transportation budget on northern Nevada projects and neglecting the huge growth in southern Nevada. One went as far to gloat that he hadn't been down to southern Nevada to check on his projects in years.
Lets get a state-wide constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot - state expenses and tax receipts must be within 2% of the total budget on a per-county basis. There should be enough southern Nevadans to push this through. All the money they get from mining in northern Nevada will have to suffice and all the gaming tax revenue generated on the Las Vegas Strip stays in southern Nevada.
That is a great cartoon drawing by Chris Morris for this article.....great creativity!
Wake up Clark County! This is not a new story. This has happened for years, especially with federal formula money. Once a federal allocation is received by the state administering agencies, distribution formulas are often ignored. With more than 70% of the population, Southern Nevada should receive at least 70% of all federal monies, but Carson City Bureaucrats with their hands on the purse strings seem to find a way (and a rationale) to keep the dollars close to home and in the pockets of their Washoe county cronies.
"That is a great cartoon drawing by Chris Morris for this article.....great creativity!"
Agreed -- it's outstanding.
The Nevada Senate's majority floor leader, assistant majority floor leader, majority whip, assistant majority whip, assistant minority floor leader, and minority whip are all from Las Vegas. That's 6 out of 7 Senate leadership positions controlled by the south.
Do you still think that the north took your money?
State Government 101: if you leave buckets of taxpayer money sitting idle for a length of time it will be eventually raided in times of need. Don't blame the north, blame the Coalition that did not execute their plan in a timely manner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jHAWnbXF...
The article should've included a county-by-county comparison of state revenue versus state expenses, as well as what the state spends per capita in each county. While taking money intended for one thing and using it for something else is patently dishonest -- and very much like what the Dems in DC are doing with TARP & stimulus funds -- one can't really say it does a disservice to Clark County unless a complete picture is provided. As it is, it sounds like it may simply be sour grapes by connected special interests in this county.
Hey all you selfish southern Nevadans, you forget that there is a 500,000 population base in Washoe County that mind you, VOTED DEMOCRAT in the 2008 election. I know you guys down there just hate the fact that we've grown because no longer is Las Vegas the center of attention, and screw you guys, You guys grew faster than weeds in the desert and didn't think about the ramifications of that, like, oh, WATER, so no, you don't deserve it. Either get along with Northern Nevada or secede and become you're own state, why not? It's obvious you hate Northern Nevada with a passion and that's fine with me. I'll tell you I love Las Vegas but I don't love the way of how most of it's residents act. Like children!! Grow up people!! By the way, I know Las Vegas accounts for 70% of the population of this state, but don't forget, you're not always going to be the center of everything, face the facts, the capital is in the north, all the sway is in the north. Larger population in the south or not! Remember the 2006 Elections, it's funny because you think you have all the sway in Southern Nevada, well Gibbons won every county but Clark and WON!! I don't even like that guy but just wanted to say it. What you guys gonna do when we get the Olympics 12 years from now? Sob and Moan?
Its not a north vs. south thing, its a Nevada thing. All of Nevada was hit. Any accounts under the General Fund that had positive balances were scooped up. As the Governor has control over the General Fund accounts for the benefit of the State he can take from any sub-account under the General Fund and re-direct it. It hurts all agencies who were fiscally responsible, or even generated their own revenue, to have their accounts cleaned out because of events that they were not responsible for. I'll bet you that those agencies that had a positive balance sheet and had their funds taken away will now go to great lengths not have positive balance sheets in the future. The fiscally responsible agencies have been punished for trying to do right by the State and that is not fair.
vegasreno123, you are right. We need to sucede and keep all our money down here. That is a great idea, and then Mining will have to pay up like gaming.
Split Clark county into 3 separate counties.
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Why in blazes didn't we get more $ from those northern mines?
Jeeze you Clark County folks crack me up, we're one state guys, I guess next session the legislature should raid the billions and billions that Humboldt County has been hoarding over the years. Everybody's ox is getting gored here folks, perhaps you should secede... and take Southern California with you.
"That is a great cartoon drawing by Chris Morris for this article.....great creativity!"
I agree - The cartoon sums up the article better than the words.
In the next cartoon - the big guy will have blood on his shoes and the taxper will be laying flat on the mat.
The Clean Water Coalition is merely another insane led balloon created by the SNWA to waste $$$ & misappropriate individuals' State water rights into the SNWA.
Brown & Collins knows well that $860 million pipedream is criminal insubordination of duty against ALL water users within the County & State as well.
That $62 million taken by the State from CWC is a smart move, but what about the remaining $$$ that CWC extorted from SNWA users? I say dismantle this CRC scam entirely, now, before it bankrupts the State and places all contracted water rights into perpetual chaos.
Water credits??? A scam.
The SNWA directors [eg. Marty Flynn] have informed me [for years] that they don't even know the difference between effluent and potable water! Crazy???
Golf courses; hiway medians..., but NO agriculture projects? Just insane pipedreams!
Douglas Dem:
I know that there are some, like you, who are just swimming in a pool of crazy. My heart goes out to you, having done it myself for awhile. (Keep the faith!) But, I think it was a call against the crazy- not against the location! ;)
As to the rest of it- yes Las Vegas we have the people. Now we just need to make sure we vote. Vote with our feet, our wallets and our ballots.
To our elected officials/candidates in So. Nevada:
I have more to worry about, than whether or not you have a leather/S&M/Cross-dressing/Diaper fetish. I don't care if you're having an affair. I don't care if the affair is with an adult of the same sex. Don't SNEAK around! Wear your lacy panties! Drink your gin! Ask the public to donate to your re-election campaign, by a dollar-per-flog party. (Beating up an elected official? It would break even Obama's fund-raising records!)
The ONLY person I don't want you fc.uking, is yours truly.
So, don't take them out, or on vacation, on my dime. Don't scream about family values-and/or how same-sex marriages will be the death of hetero unions-and then get caught with your lover on your (and your parents') payroll, and expect that I won't demand that you resign.
We need to quit worrying about how people are sold to us. If the guy who once snorted a ski slope's worth of cocaine, is same one the one who will fix our economy, our schools, and the shameful theft of county funds, by greedy State government, then I'm voting for him.
DesertLandEntryman:
Everyone knows the difference between effluent and potable water.
Just place a glass of each one, in front of them! ;)
"I don't drink water. Fish f--k in it." - W.C. Fields
Are these the same people that just gave us no state aid for foreclosure help when we requested it? Time for some changes, tell them we can't provide any funds because we're using that to figure out the foreclosure problem we have to work on by ourselves.
VegasReno:
Don't bite the hands that feed you. You need us more than we need you. The North has benefitted disproportionately from the growth in the South. If we seceded, you'd suffer the most. As far as the State capital being in Carson, that was an 1869 decision that in today's environment appears just plain foolish and costs taxpayers untold thousands in extra travel and accomodation expenses. We've moved past horse and buggy, but we still operate out of Carson. It has become a case of the tail wagging the dog.
Ok now I am fired up. These clowns want to take our money from Clark County, yet they don't want to share the water from rural Nevada. This is getting out of control!!!
windy???
"share the water from rural Nevada"???
Have you ever heard of Lake Mead???
No, waste almost a $ Billion in a pipedream to suck N. NV. dry???
Are you still fired up???
Face it, if the Legislature ever does the right job, it would dismantle the CWC completely, & take ALL of CWC's unlawfull $860 Million pipedream scam to ballance the State budget.
Case closed.
DesertLandEntryman:
Noooooo! Then Pat Mulroy might get a job somewhere ELSE!
Can you imagine her in charge of NV Energy? ***shudders***
Adding her to their greed and lack of consumer concern would only bring a NEW plague of Evil, upon us all!
And probably a few locusts and frogs, for good measure. ;D
VegasV,
The puppit Pat Mulroy could not EVER get a real job. In private market, she be in jail years ago.
However, the CWC must be dismantled now, & it's the Legislature's duty to do so now, which is just & will ballance the NV budget this year!
Is that hard to understand???
Grown VegasReno? 500,000 you say...hey dimwit...that's 1/4 of Las Vegas alone. The only thing you've grown is your appetite for our funds!
I quess MORONS will never understand!
"Clean Water (project)...never happened, so it (funding) should have gone back to the taxpayers".
These reckless actions by the State of Nevada are not legal. We are the victims of crime and State of Nevada has not provided us restitution even though they have collected the restitution.
The civil lawsuits against the State are catastrophic.
Next time there is a special tax for a specific project, I no longer trust that they will actually spend it as promised.
That money should be returned to the people that paid it, plain and simple. It shouldnt be redirected to 'social services' or the state.
I am pretty disgusted by the lying and deceit that government people are engaged in to protect 'their jobs' and allow themselves to buy votes through programs we don't even need.
NY has a lottery and powerball and it's in the toilette,too.
Martel's comments are spot on! This has been happening for a long time and to make things worse, this happens nation wide as well to Nevada. We are one of the few donor states. we rank 49 out 50 for federal funding and for years we only get about 65% (65cents per dollar) of our federal dollars back into the state. Other states like Louisiana get about $1.71 per dollar.
It is called redistribution of wealth. It's funny how so many see it as unfair when it happens at a state level or the federal level but some think it's great when it happens on an individual level.
I like this article because I think readers are paying attention now. Plain and simple, your money = votes to politicians. Vote for the guy that lowers reliance on government and gives you your money back. Not the turd that promises more programs.
NV is a huge state,with Reno to the north and Vegas to the south . And a whole lotta nothing in between.
United:
There USED to be Mustangs on that nothing.
Of course new, empty roads are MUCH better.
The solution is simple Nevadans. Vote independent/nonpartisan this November 2nd for all offices that have an independent/nonpartisan candidate. Flush the waste down the toilet once and for all. This is your only recourse unless you want to go revolution like I and the founding fathers did against the english.
Don't you realize that the tourists aren't the only ones getting screwed in Vegas? EVERYONE is!
Let's face it, Clark County is the engine that makes the state run. It doesn't matter if you have a Republican or Democrat in office, we will continue to be sponged off of to subsidize the entire state. Thats just the way it is, has been and will continue to be.