Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Kyle Hansen
Nearly a year after Sheriff Doug Gillespie first pitched to the public a proposed increase in the sales tax to hire more police officers, the plan remains stalled with dim prospects of passing in the face of a deadlocked Clark County Commission.
The board is set to take up a revised version of the “More Cops” tax proposal at its meeting Tuesday, but not much has changed since commissioners voted down a pair of competing sales tax plans in early October.
In those instances, neither the full 0.15 percent increase authorized by the Legislature nor a reduced 0.075 percent increase garnered the supermajority of five votes needed for adoption.
The proposal to be discussed Tuesday, put forward by Commissioner Tom Collins, would phase in the tax increase over two steps: 0.1 percent in April 2014, with the remaining 0.05 percent in July 2014. But at least four of the seven commissioners have said they wouldn’t vote for that amount.
One subtext of the ongoing debate has been the increasing crime rates across the valley — a 9 percent increase from 2011 to 2012 — while the number of officers roaming the streets has dropped. Las Vegas has long lagged behind the national average in police per capita of 2.25 officers per 1,000 residents. Metro’s current figure is 1.74 officers per 1,000 residents. Of added importance, Gillespie maintains, is the number doesn’t take into account the 40 million tourists who flock to the city each year.
Gillespie has argued that without an increase in the sales tax, Metro Police could lose up to 250 more officer positions due to a projected $30 million budget deficit next year.
Metro officials haven’t made a direct connection between crime rates and staffing levels, but the implication is clear: Having more officers would only help with public safety.
One tool to frame this argument is a breakdown of Metro’s activity sorted by commission district.
Here’s a look at those statistics from the start of 2013 and where each commissioner stands on the sales tax proposal headed into Tuesday’s vote.
Commission districts each have roughly the same number of residents, although municipal police departments in Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite serve some of the population in those districts. Those municipal departments also would receive an increase in funding if the sales tax is approved.
It’s important to note these numbers reflect calls in which an officer was dispatched by Metro in Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County only. A call for service does not necessarily mean a person was arrested or a crime occurred.
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District A (represented by Commissioner Steve Sisolak) — 5,756 calls for service
District A, which covers the southeast part of the valley stretching from Henderson to Laughlin, sits in the middle of the pack in terms of calls for service, receiving about 14 percent of Metro’s total since the start of 2013.
Commissioner Steve Sisolak has been a staunch opponent of the sales tax increase since it was first introduced last December and voted against both proposals in October.
Sisolak said that although he’s concerned about increasing crime rates, he’s not convinced an increase in funding for Metro would result in more police officers on the streets.
“It’s an important issue. When you start dealing with crime, it’s an issue of resource allocation and how (Gillespie) allocates his resources between upper-level administration and beat officers.”
Sisolak hasn’t changed his stance on the sales tax proposal and said he planned to oppose it again Tuesday.
“A lot of my constituents are still very much hurting in terms of their financial situation,” he said. “The rates are going up on everything, people are really struggling to keep their heads above water.”
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District B (represented by Commissioner Tom Collins) — 2,318 calls for service
The northeast part of the county covered by District B stretching from North Las Vegas to Mesquite and Moapa has registered the fewest number of calls for service to Metro this year. Commission districts each have roughly the same number of residents, but the area represented by Commissioner Tom Collins is more rural than other districts and includes portions covered by the North Las Vegas and Mesquite police departments, which helps explain Metro’s decreased presence.
The district accounted for just 5 percent of Metro’s calls for services so far in 2013.
Still, Collins is perhaps the fiercest advocate for raising the sales tax by the full 0.15 percent so that more police officers could be hired.
Collins supported the .15 percent increase in October but voted against a 0.075 percent compromise put forward by Commissioner Susan Brager.
Collins said funding more police officers was “common sense” with crime rates increasing across the valley. He’s especially concerned about the potential for an increase in violent crimes harming Las Vegas’ tourism industry.
“If we don’t stop and reduce the crime and it continues to be in our tourist corridor, then we’re going to get less tourists, which means we lose money as a community and lose jobs,” he said.
Collins has opposed efforts to approve half of the 0.15 percent increase now and is pitching phasing in the increase as a potential compromise.
“My position as it always has been is to vote for 0.15 cents. However, it’s broken out over three, six, nine months, as long as there is one vote for 0.15 cents,” he said.
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District C (represented by Commissioner Larry Brown) — 5,686 calls for service
Covering the northwest valley, including parts of Summerlin out to Mount Charleston, District C saw a higher percentage of burglary calls than most other districts but otherwise checked in at the lower end with about 13 percent of Metro’s total calls for serve.
Commissioner Larry Brown voted in support of both tax proposals in October meeting and remains a strong supporter of the increase.
He said an increasing crime rate and decrease in officers per capita is one of the core issues to the debate.
“If we accept the fact that crime is going to increase and officers are going to go down, where do we reach the point where it becomes a public-safety crisis?” Brown asked.
With recruitment and training for officers lasting 18 months, Brown said it’s important Metro start receiving new funds soon so the crime problem wouldn’t grow out of hand.
“It's going to take a couple of years to build back the numbers that many perceive as the minimum officers for true public safety,” he said. “We can’t afford … to get to the point where recovering isn’t a matter of years and instead it’s a decade.”
Brown acknowledges the sales tax faces a tough road to passage with the currently divided commission, but he sees opportunity for a compromise that would approve a 0.075 percent increase this year to get funding flowing to Metro, with the remaining 0.075 percent being brought back to the commission in a year.
“If we don't take action or vote one way or another, this goes away for the better part of a year,” he said.
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District D (represented by Commissioner Lawrence Weekly) — 6,249 calls for service
District D has the second highest number of calls for service to Metro among commission districts, accounting for about 15 percent of this year’s total.
The district covers the valley’s urban core including parts of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.
Commissioner Lawrence Weekly voted in favor of both the 0.075 percent and 0.15 percent increases at the October meeting.
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District E (represented by Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani) — 11,657 calls for service
Metro dispatches officers most frequently to District E, which received nearly twice as many calls for service as any other district. Overall, the district has accounted for about a quarter of Metro’s total calls this year. This high rate of activity is explained in part because the district, located in the central valley from Las Vegas Boulevard to Hollywood Boulevard generally between Flamingo Road and Bonanza Road, lies entirely within Metro’s jurisdiction and isn’t served by any other municipal police departments.
Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said she’s concerned about crime in the area, but the sheriff still hadn’t proven that increased funding would be used to address the problem.
“The issue still hasn’t been answered. No plan has been brought forth to show where he plans on adding officers,” Giunchigliani said. “It’s still about a budget shortfall.”
Giunchigliani said she’d like to see the sheriff tap a $136 million Metro reserve to cover the budget shortfall and then come back with a comprehensive plan to add more officers before she would consider an increase in the sales tax rate.
So far, Giunchigliani said she hadn’t heard anything to change her mind after voting no to both proposals in October.
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District F (represented by Commissioner Susan Brager) — 5,706 calls for service
Covering the far-western portion of the valley, District F accounted for about 14 percent of the total calls to Metro Police so far this year.
Commissioner Susan Brager has supported raising the sales tax by 0.075 percent, an increase she said would allow the sheriff to hire new officers while using money from Metro reserves to address the budget deficit.
“We need more officers,” she said. “The (sheriff) can only hire so many at one time, so the 0.075 percent does save the taxpayers now.”
Brager said if the 0.075 percent increase were approved, it would come with strict requirements that the sheriff document how the money was spent and prove that it would result in new police officers on the streets.
If the sales tax increase works as intended, Brager said she would be open to considering the remaining 0.075 percent later.
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District G (represented by Commissioner Mary Beth Scow) — 4,840 calls for service
District G had the second-fewest total calls for service among commission districts.
The area generally covers the south and central valley, including portions of Henderson, and is represented by Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, who voted in favor of a 0.075-cent sales tax increase in October.
She said the rise in crime was a compelling statistic that spoke to a need for more police officers, but she wants to make sure any increase in tax revenues goes to hiring more new officers, not plugging the department’s budget gap.
Scow said a 0.075 percent increase would allow the sheriff to begin hiring more officers and the commission can review approving the other half next year.
“I want to be prudent. It gives us a chance to see how it goes, to get the first class through the academy,” she said. “We can see how revenues increase and bring it back in a year to assess the other half.”
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