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Stumbleclark county:
Commissioner stunned by conservation group’s coffers
Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 | 5:17 p.m.
Jaws dropped Tuesday when Clark County commissioners learned that a county conservation program has banked more than $50 million in research funds, with more than $40 million not targeted for anything.
Collected over nearly two decades from the $550 per-acre fees paid by developers and coming from federal land-swap funds, the money had been targeted toward research that was later abandoned or never started.
Marci Henson, program manager of the Desert Conservation Program and administrator of the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Program, said the money sits in the bank and collects interest.
“Give me a sec while I pick myself off the floor,” Commissioner Steve Sisolak said. He led questioning into the money, an accounting of which was part of the County Commission’s meeting.
“And we need to raise these fees?” he said, referencing an issue the commission is likely to deal with in a few months when an amended multiple-species conservation plan is presented. One idea is to raise developer fees from $550 to $1,600 an acre.
The revelation led commissioners to ask staff to look into other ways it could use the money. The money must be spent on conservation plans established by the federal government, so spending targets are limited.
But Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said she was “not joking” in suggesting that staff look into the possibility of purchasing some of the Blue Diamond abandoned gypsum mine property that, against the wishes of many, is being drawn up for development.
The per-acre fees paid by developers were conceived as a way to allow development on federal land despite fears of ruining desert tortoise habitats. Paying the fee allowed developers to “take” or kill tortoises, which are listed as a threatened species, during development without being penalized. During the development boom of the mid-2000s, commissioners established a committee to revise the conservation plan because the land allocated by the federal government was being developed so quickly.
Discussion: 3 comments so far…
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Take it from them and use it to plug some holes in the state deficit. It's not as if anyone else is doing anything to achieve that end.
You think you're stunned now, just wait until election day you idiots!
"The money must be spent on conservation plans established by the federal government, so spending targets are limited."
So why isn't Sisolak lobbying our Nevada delegation to establish some new conservation plans, rather than wasting it on real estate?
I'm sure that UNLV's biology and geology departments could think up $50 Million in research projects concerning "desert convervation" without any difficulty.
I am wondering if the "holding on to the money" is just a scam created by the senior County administrative staff to earn interest. Twenty years ago, a crooked City Manager in Valencia, California shook down a developer for funding to build a neighborhood park. Once the money was safely in the city's coffers, the City Manager decided never to spend it because he wanted the interest accrual in his yearly cash flow and really didn't want to spend money maintaining the park. This past weekend, I was looking at the city on Google Earth and that park is still AWOL.
Could it be that the City Manager referred to above and the County employees in charge of handing out the research money went to the same "public administration" school or seminar?
Me thinks CynicalObserver has found a rather stunning example of a type of aquiencence of a trusted official entity, and also offered up a very viable solution towards utilizing the presently discovered funds. Nice work.
And until the WATER SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE can be resolved out here in the desert of Clark County and Nevada, the County Commissioners really should be adapting any new building to using previously built site, thereby recycling them, leaving less a ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT, and planning with water AWARENESS for the community and businesses.
Honestly, if there's no water here, any kind of business, industry, housing, work, LIFE cannot be supported. A recent example of "What were they thinking?" came when they rubberstamped the Rhodes new housing project out near RED ROCK! Water is like GOLD here, are they serious?