Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas City Council:

Maintaining a city is a costly, never-ending endeavor

City Hall Construction

Steve Marcus

Construction continues on the new City Hall in downtown Las Vegas Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012.

Keeping the roads, sewers, storm drains and parks in Las Vegas in working order costs the city tens of millions of dollars each year.

But shrinking revenues have led to a $16 million shortfall in the maintenance budget that threatens to grow worse with time, meaning needed repairs aren’t made as soon as they should be, according to a report presented Wednesday to the Las Vegas City Council.

The city owns $7.4 billion worth of assets, which require about $91.8 million worth of maintenance annually. The biggest cost is the city’s roadways, which require about $28.5 million worth of repairs each year. But there’s only enough funding in the city budget for $16 million worth of road repairs.

Some of the maintenance is funded by outside sources — road repair, for instance, is partially funded by the gas tax and the Regional Transportation Committee while storm drains are paid for with a quarter-cent sales tax collected by the Clark County Regional Flood Control District.

Jorge Cervantes, the city’s director of public works, said the city benefited from having relatively new infrastructure, much of which was built in the past 30 years.

By investing in maintenance early, the lifespan of the roads, sewers and storm drains is extended significantly, Cervantes said, often lasting twice as long as it would without upkeep.

But as the city continues to age, maintenance costs will grow, especially if the city defers needed repairs due to a lack of funding, he said.

Before the recession, the city addressed the shortfall in the maintenance budget by reallocating money from general fund surpluses. But as the city budget shrank, available funding for maintenance dwindled.

Now, Cervantes said, his department attempts to cover the $16 million total annual shortfall through federal grants, deferring lower-priority repairs and using some general fund dollars.

Councilman Bob Coffin, who pushed for the inventory of the city’s assets and maintenance costs, said the annual deficit was a warning sign that would continue to get bigger if the city underfunded maintenance.

“There’s going to come a time when there isn’t enough money to do all that. We’re already robbing our general fund to pay for these things,” Coffin said. “That’s money that’s not going into salaries or other assets.”

Although no immediate solutions for addressing the maintenance shortfall were presented Wednesday, Coffin said having a complete listing would help frame the discussion and give the council more information when allocating funds.

“What it shows us is you have to have long-term thinking. You can’t just say fix this or build this without an understanding that you have to keep fixing it. It never stops,” he said.

Here’s a look at the city’s assets and what it costs to maintain them:

    • Arterial Roadways

      Arterial roadways are the major thoroughfares in the city and are typically four lanes or larger.

      Size: 297 miles

      Value: $1.32 billion

      Lifespan: 40 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $18 million

      Annual funding: $9 million

      Annual deficit: $9 million

    • Local roadways

      Local roadways are smaller streets typically found in neighborhoods.

      Size: 1,010 miles

      Value: $1.23 billion

      Lifespan: 50 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $10.5 million

      Annual funding: $7 million

      Annual deficit: $3.5 million

    • Detention basins

      Detention basins are used to control flooding in Las Vegas.

      Size: 530 acres

      Value: $50 million

      Lifespan: 100 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $500,000

      Annual funding: $500,000

      Annual deficit: None

    • Storm drain network

      Size: 432 miles

      Value: $1.36 billion

      Lifespan: 50 to 100 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $4.1 million

      Annual funding: $2.1 million

      Annual deficit: $2 million

    • Sanitary sewer system

      Size: 1,718 miles

      Value: $1.37 billion

      Lifespan: 50 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $17 million

      Annual funding: $17 million

      Annual deficit: None

    • City parks

      Size: 76 parks covering 1,700 acres

      Value: $380 million

      Lifespan: 50 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $1.9 million

      Annual funding: None

      Annual deficit: $1.9 million

    • City buildings

      Size: 149 buildings

      Value: $690 million

      Lifespan: 50 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $750,000

      Annual funding: $500,000

      Annual deficit: $250,000

    • Vehicle fleet and fuel assets

      Costs for use of the city fleet are paid out of the budgets of departments that use the vehicles. Fire vehicles are not included in the analysis.

      Size: 1,129 vehicles plus 24 subsurface fuel tanks

      Value: $35 million

      Lifespan: Eight to 10 years

      Annual preventative maintenance or replacement cost: $3.5 million

      Annual funding: $3.5 million

      Annual deficit: None

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