Rural Republicans may be key to passing tax increases this session

By David McGrath Schwartz

Sunday, March 27, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Rural counties and the services state government provides are getting a lot of attention this legislative session.

This is not about elected officials from the state’s urban districts angling for an invitation to a buffet of Rocky Mountain oysters. Rather, Democratic lawmakers see the Republicans representing rural Nevada as potential votes for taxes they can pursue by leveraging state services, college campuses and redistricting.

There are two reasons:

• Lawmaker s from Clark and Washoe counties believe the 15 rural counties leech off the rest of the state. From Elko to Esmeralda to Eureka, rural counties don’t pay as much in taxes as they receive in services such as health care, schools and colleges.

In the minds of some lawmakers this justifies rural counties bearing the brunt of budget cuts, particularly if their representatives in the Legislature won’t support a tax increase to reverse the cuts.

• The far-flung communities rely on college campuses and local government jobs in a more visible way than urban areas. The threat of cuts to these services, which are often a focus of economic activity in the area, puts a lot of pressure on rural lawmakers.

Add in the leverage that Democrats, who control both houses, will have during redistricting and it’s evident pro-tax forces will have a number of carrots and sticks at their disposal to move rural Republican lawmakers.

Democrats have not publicly said that those who oppose taxes will see their districts pillaged. But Democratic leadership has been highlighting cuts in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budgets in rural Nevada.

Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, has asked repeatedly in committee why, if the big counties — Clark and Washoe — get 9 cents of their property taxes taken away by the state, don’t the rural counties share the sacrifice. He told Las Vegas Sun columnist J. Patrick Coolican last week that he would sit down with every Republican lawmaker and detail the cuts in his district.

Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, has during budget committee meetings asked staff to describe how smaller towns would be affected by cuts to mental health clinics, prison camps and public safety.

During the student rally Monday, Democratic lawmakers made sure the young men and women who ventured in from the “cow counties” were able to testify before the Legislature.

Higher education represents a major pressure point for rural lawmakers.

Regents voted this month to take consolidations and campus closures off the table. Most rural lawmakers, and students, took that to mean that satellite campuses and colleges were being protected from the effect of budget cuts anticipated in urban areas.

Not so, said Dan Klaich, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Satellite campuses and leased facilities in Mesquite, Fallon, Minden, Lovelock, Pahrump and other rural communities are being looked at as the system searches for savings.

Additionally, the Democratically controlled money committees, which set the funding for higher education, directed administrators last week to prepare scenarios in which institutions such as Northern Nevada’s community colleges are consolidated.

Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden, criticized the move.

“There’s no reason to open up that discussion at this time,” he said. “It’s wrong” to use students in rural communities to gain leverage for tax votes. “We need to work as a whole. Pitting one segment of Nevada against another isn’t helpful.”

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Reno and chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, said the effect of Sandoval’s budget cuts “is huge in rural areas. They should feel pressure.”

It might not endear them to the Cowboy Caucus. But Democrats hope that pressure will push a few rural Republicans toward a tax increase.