County commissioners rip plan to use tax money for downtown parking garage

By Conor Shine

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015 | 6:45 p.m.

Clark County commissioners blasted a proposal presented today that would divert sales tax dollars to pay for a parking garage that's a key part of larger plans for a $200 million soccer stadium in downtown Las Vegas.

Over the course of a tense, nearly two-hour hearing, commissioners grilled Las Vegas Economic Development Director Bill Arent about the city's plans to create a tourism improvement district downtown.

"I think the (tourism improvement district) needs to go away. Period," Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said. "I just don't think it's going to pan out."

The district would capture increased sales tax revenues from the opening of the Premium Outlets mall expansion and development at Symphony Park, including the proposed soccer stadium. The money, estimated at $25 to $30 million over five years, would be diverted to the city to pay for bonds to build a 1,200-space parking garage.

With 6,000 to 7,000 parking spaces needed to accommodate fans at the proposed downtown soccer stadium, the garage is a key contribution by the city to the deal, along with $56.5 million in funding plus the 13-acre parcel at Symphony Park.

Plans to divert sales tax revenues to pay for the garage didn't sit well with commissioners because the money would normally be collected by the state and redistributed to local governments, including Clark County, as a part of the consolidated tax formula, which includes sales tax revenues. The county gets 53 percent of collected revenues under the formula.

Essentially, commissioners said, the city's parking garage would be funded at least partially at the county's expense.

Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said the lost revenues would come at a time when the county is already struggling to close budget deficits at University Medical Center, Metro Police and the jail.

He criticized the use of public dollars for a project that would allow the stadium owners to profit by pocketing money for parking on game days.

"You're capturing (tax dollars) to the benefit of the soccer team and to the deficit of the county," Sisolak said.

Commissioners also targeted what they saw as overly aggressive projections presented today, which included 257,000 square feet of retail, three hotels with 1,650 rooms and a million square feet of office space coming online by 2016. The report projected $1.1 billion would be spent in the area over five years.

A city consultant acknowledged the projections were aggressive, but said that the overall success of the project wouldn't suffer if development were slow over the first two or three years.

Defending the proposal, Arent said that parking garage would benefit other businesses in the area, including the outlet mall, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and the Smith Center. He said the parking garage needs to be built, regardless of whether the stadium project comes to fruition.

"The city has to support public funding for parking in downtown. That is today's environment ... That's part of growing up downtown," Arent said.

The commissioners can't block the city from creating a tourism improvement district and their comments today were only advisory. But Giunchigliani did request a resolution opposing the district be voted on by the commission at their Feb. 3 meeting.

The tourism improvement district still needs approval from the city council but will likely find enough support in the four council members — Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Councilmen Ricki Barlow, Steve Ross and Bob Coffin — who are already supporting the stadium.

The tourism improvement district still needs approval from the Las Vegas City Council and the state Tourism Commission before it can be created.