Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The mayors of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas told Clark County officials that parks are as essential as water and sewer to maintaining the quality of life in Southern Nevada over the next decade.
"It's wonderful to bring in water and sewer to sustain growth, but if you don't include parks you're being short-sighted," Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones said.
The original $2.4 billion bare-bones assessment prepared by county managers and presented to representatives from the county's five incorporated cities Thursday doesn't include parks or a monorail system for the Strip.
"I don't think anybody feels we have enough parks, but what we're talking about are our priority needs," Commissioner Myrna Williams said.
Parks would add at least $300 million to the needs package, officials calculated, but admitted it was difficult to pin down because of incomplete data from the different entities.
"We already have park fees, and there was a question about what part of the budget is dedicated to operating and maintenance," Williams said. "It's going to take more time to put that all together and make a projection of what park fees are going to be."
Commissioner Erin Kenny said parks were added to the needs assessment at her insistence.
Jones said the needs assessment should also calculate how much money beyond what's been identified for bricks-and-mortar is needed to raise the quality of education in the schools.
"I'm not interested in just putting up buildings," Jones said.
She said she hoped subsequent meetings would discuss how to get the state to help raise the standard.
"The state needs to look at playing a role," Jones said. "I don't think you can separate the issues of capital costs and quality of education in the classroom. It's kind of like building libraries without books."
County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates said the meeting was a good start to getting the various entities to reach a consensus on what's needed for Southern Nevada's future.
"I am hoping to go up to Carson City united," Gates said, acknowledging the difficulty of getting anything passed by the Legislature if the perception is the county and cities are divided on infrastructure issues.
As far as funding the needs, Gates said, "there is still a long way to go."
But she expressed optimism that the county and cities, working with the business community, could find the revenue sources to pay for it all.
"We now realize the problem isn't as big as it was perceived to be," Gates said. "Because of that it's manageable, and it's possible if we all work together to come up with solutions to solve this problem."
The county needs assessment falls short of the $7-10 billion projected previously because it excludes facilities that already have identifiable funding sources or were considered non-essential.
Gates was scheduled to make a presentation today on the needs assessment to the Assembly Infrastructure Committee meeting at Southern Nevada's water treatment plant at Lake Mead.
One of the committee's first major actions will be whether to approve a bill raising the sales tax by a quarter-percent to help finance the $1.7 billion pipeline. Key lawmakers said the Legislature is unlikely to approve that bill, but substitute it for one giving the county authority to raise the sales tax.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority has recommended the sales tax to pay about 30 percent of the water system to prevent raising water rates and connection charges more than already approved.
Water ranked highest on the county's needs assessment study, with $1.134 billion identified, not including infrastructure needs that are already being funded by water rates and connection charges.
Another $767 million was identified for school construction, beyond the $1 billion the school district has available over the next five years from existing bond revenue.
Sanitation officials identified $479 million needed for facilities, and transportation officials said $37 million was needed for buses and maintenance shops.
To date, only the gaming and home building industries have come forward with proposals to help pay for those unfunded services.
The gaming industry has proposed a 1-percent room tax increase and the transfer of existing room tax revenue for at least $27 million a year. Home builders have agreed to an increase on real estate transaction fees for another $11 million, and say another $10 million could come out of the real estate transfer tax or liquor, cigarette and other revenues municipal governments receive.
Their proposals, combined with revenue of the quarter-cent sales tax proposal by the water district, would raise almost $90 million a year.
Gates, Williams and Commissioner Mary Kincaid have yet to deliver on a comprehensive infrastructure funding package although they have identified about 15 existing revenue streams to tap for more revenue.
Their strategy, they said, is to coax various parts of the business community to seek a voluntary increase to help pay for the identified needs.
Jones said no other revenue sources were identified outside of the room tax, real estate transfer tax and sales tax increases already proposed.
She and Gates agreed that whatever money is raised should be managed by a regional board of some kind using trust funds specifically earmarked for specific public services.
"We have to make sure if we pool all our resources we delineate where all the money is going," Jones said. "My concern would be that everyone would determine that there is only enough revenue to build out the water system ... and the public would in fact not see the schools promised them."
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