Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Faced with budget cuts, County Commission weighs property tax hike

The specter of higher property taxes in cash-strapped Clark County was raised today at a special budget meeting of the County Commission and is likely to return for discussion in a few weeks.

Commissioners have the right to increase property tax rates by state statute. Few, however, have the political will to make the attempt.

Clark County currently gets about 49 cents per $100 of assessed value in various tax districts throughout the county. (Assessed value in Nevada does not equal a property’s cash value; it equals 35 percent of it.)

So, for instance, the tax rate in Las Vegas is $3.2866 per $100. Of that total, the county gets 44 cents to cover debt, family court expenses and operating costs. The city, school district, state, police department and other agencies divide the rest.

Clark County has the right to increase that amount from 44 cents, so long as the city’s total does not go above $3.64 per $100.

Commissioners will discuss the rate at a future meeting. Meanwhile, they voted 6-1 for next year’s budget, which is about $100 million less than the current budget and will cost 83 employees their jobs.

In the next budget cycle, which begins July 1, the county expects to spend $1.18 billion in general fund dollars — that is, those dollars mostly collected through taxes. That’s down about 6 percent from the current year’s spending of $1.3 billion.

Despite the 83 layoffs and the 6 percent decline in spending, the county’s expenses in the coming year are projected to be $51 million higher than its tax revenue. Thus, county staff said more cuts will be made in coming fiscal years. That would likely mean more lost jobs.

To avoid the further erosion of county services, Commissioner Tom Collins asked county staff not to simply think about cutting their way to a balance. Instead, he talked about an idea he has promoted for years — increasing the property tax rate. An increase of one cent per $100, he said after the meeting, would increase county revenue by $6 million.

“Tax” is a dirty word, however, in politics.

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who is running for mayor of Las Vegas, said the county needs to “exhaust every other savings” before considering a tax increase.

“There are consolidations and other options we need to consider,” she said. She asked county staff to bring back a list of recommendations made by the Citizens Committee on Community Priorities, which met in late 2009 and developed a series of budget suggestions. Many of those consisted of consolidating services with surrounding governmental entities.

Talk of consolidating business licensing and other services came up briefly after the committee issued its final report. Then the ideas just seemed to disappear.

As for property tax increases, Commissioner Steve Sisolak said he’d be dead set against the idea. For one, he said the economy is so bad he believes higher taxes would just be another burden on county residents.

And, he said, there is nothing to prevent the state lawmakers from doing what they have done the past two years, and will likely do this year — take property tax revenue that was supposed to go for county services as their own.

“Just because you raise the money doesn’t mean it’s going to stay here,” he said. “We’d raise more and they’ll take more.”

Collins expressed doubt about that scenario, saying he “thinks” lawmakers in Carson City “are watching out for us.”

County staff was asked to bring back several cost saving measures for the board to consider in upcoming meetings, including the property tax idea.

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