Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Southern Nevada's home builders today agreed to a funding package to help pay for Clark County's growth-related needs, "in addition to the millions we already pay on infrastructure."
Irene Porter, executive director of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, said the board approved a proposal this morning to raise an additional $11 million a year for Southern Nevada by increasing the real property transfer tax by 60 cents for every $500 in value.
"We'd already been looking at this for over a year, since we have the highest ratio of contributor to infrastructure in the state," Porter said, noting that the industry pays $1 billion annually for roads, sewer lines and other improvements.
Porter said the industry also supports a proposal to raise the sales tax a quarter percent to help pay for an expanded water system, but advocates a more broad-based approach to meeting infrastructure needs.
County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who has been working with other commissioners and business leaders to come up with a comprehensive infrastructure funding package, lauded the proposal.
"It's great home builders stepped up to the plate," Gates said. "It appears we are on our way to solving some infrastructure problems in our community."
Last week, the gaming industry came forward with a plan to raise the room tax by 1 percent to raise $17 million in revenue, and divert another $10 million of room tax money that goes to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for special events funding.
Home builders had rejected a proposal by Mark Brown of the Howard Hughes Corp. to charge $500 for each new home and $250 for each resale to help pay for school construction.
"Mark went off and made proposal that had not been seen or discussed by any member of the home builders association," Porter said. "We are opposed to school impact fees. They don't work, and there are other ways of getting school funding that do work."
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