Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Clark vs. Washoe? Old rivalry turns into mutual support

The adage “enemy of my enemy is my friend,” might explain an odd thaw in the chilly rivalry between Clark and Washoe counties.

In 2009, Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Legislature collectively gave Washoe and Clark counties the shaft, diverting more than $200 million from them to balance the state budget.

Facing a common enemy — state lawmakers — the two counties are beginning to see each other as allies.

Clark County sent a June letter to the state demanding a refund of $102 million in taxes that the state diverted from 2009 to 2011, a portion of the $180 million hit the county says it took. Washoe County followed suit July 1, sending a letter demanding a refund of $21.5 million.

The political benefits of the two sides joined together can’t be understated. Clark County, home of the state’s major population base, has long sought more freedom from the age-old rule that makes it all but impossible for a local governments to create a budget or deal with simple operations such as parking fees without state approval. If it could join with Washoe County, which has the second-largest population among Nevada counties, the two could use their considerable weight to bring fundamental changes in how the state does business.

Rarely have the two counties spoken with one voice. Maybe that’s about to change.

“I haven’t paid attention to Clark County’s financing, but I know our managers and staff have been talking to them,” Washoe County Commission Chairman John Breternitz said.

To fend off a Legislature that “keeps passing the buck,” the two counties, with their business communities, should present a united front to lawmakers and ask them to change the way they operate.

“We’ve got to hold their feet to the fire,” Breternitz said. “In my opinion, they did nothing again but put the hard decisions off to the next legislative session. That’s not their job. Their job is to solve problems with creative solutions. That’s just not happening.”

Disgust with state lawmakers is palpable, too, in the Clark County Government Center in downtown Las Vegas.

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Steve Sisolak

“The frustration is now starting to boil over with those guys,” Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said. “They have to begin to face their issues and figure out how to balance their budgets without putting it on the backs of the two largest counties.”

Sisolak also sees the common-enemy scenario forming a connection between Clark and Washoe counties.

“It’s not a north-south issue anymore, but maybe more it’s the beginning of the two counties joining hands to work together to fight for what’s right for our constituents,” he said. “We haven’t been allies in a lot of issues before. Maybe it’s the beginning of a good relationship.”

That’s coming from a commissioner who has openly supported the possibility that University Medical Center divorce the University of Nevada School of Medicine. The widely held perception in Southern Nevada is that the medical school has ignored Clark County despite the fact that its doctors train in the illness and injury-rich UMC. Clark County commissioners are looking at bringing in a different medical school partner as UMC explores becoming more of an academic medical center.

In addition to their both being “robbed” by the state in 2009 — a last-minute Supreme Court decision that said tax diversions targeting specific counties are unconstitutional spared them a similar fate during this year’s session — the similarity of other hardships faced by Clark and Washoe counties are hard to miss.

Consider:

Clark County has over three years eliminated 1,600 positions, or 19 percent of its 8,500 authorized positions (not including UMC employees). It approved a 2011-12 general fund budget of $1.185 billion, 20 percent less than its 2007-08 budget. It has cut its parks and recreation budget 18 percent in three years. And its employees use computers that are on average 6 years old.

Washoe County has over three years reduced staffing by 769 positions, or 19 percent of its authorized staff. It approved a 2011-12 general fund budget of $311 million, 21 percent less than its 2007-08 budget. It has cut its parks budget by 50 percent in four years. Spokeswoman Kathy Carter said parks are opened and closed by volunteers, and the county has shut down one of its public swimming pools. It has jettisoned its three-year computer replacement program so the average staff computer is 5 years old.

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Brian Sandoval

On Thursday, Gov. Brian Sandoval appeared to be seriously considering the Washoe and Clark’s refund requests. His staff reported he would meet with Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to evaluate the state’s response.

If he decides to refund the money, he will likely have to call a special session of the Legislature so state lawmakers can fill the $120 million budget hole the refund would create.

If they win the refund, Clark and Washoe County officials think they will continue to need each other to fend off retribution expected from state lawmakers. Even though the state can’t single out counties as it takes local tax dollars, it might heap responsibilities such as social services onto all counties, knowing the less-populated counties have less need for those services than Washoe and Clark.

After he left a meeting Thursday, Breternitz was practically promised retribution when he spoke with someone “very close” to state lawmakers. “He said, ‘You know, John, that the guys in the Legislature are not very happy that you filed a letter for a refund,’ ” Breternitz said.

To that, Breternitz could only shake his head.

“All that’s happened, and it just seems like none of this fazes any of them,” he said of state lawmakers. “They’re just going to do the same thing again. The vibe I’m getting is they just want to come back and sock it to us, Clark and Washoe County. The same old thing again.”

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