Tuesday, March 18, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- New room tax money that casinos have agreed to chip in for growth needs in Southern Nevada should be earmarked for school construction, Gov. Bob Miller says.
That proposal -- first voiced last week by Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones and Councilman Matthew Callister -- is expected to face a challenge from Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.
Raggio says lawsuits in other states question whether only one county can benefit from plans to improve education.
"If you're going to fund education, you have to do it statewide," Raggio has said.
Following up on a news conference held Wednesday by Jones and Callister, Miller said Monday that new room taxes should go to build schools in Clark County.
"A critical component of Clark County's infrastructure needs is school construction," Miller said in a prepared statement. "Therefore, funding should be earmarked to build the schools needed to provide for the growing student population in Clark County. I believe a room tax increase should be dedicated to that purpose."
Jones and Callister went further with their proposal, adding other suggested tax increases to the mix as well as a possible impact fee on new home construction.
Facing public criticism that casinos are undertaxed yet benefit from growth, gaming executives recently agreed to increase the room tax in Clark County by 1 percent, raising up to $17 million a year.
Casinos also consented to fork over $10 million in room taxes already used by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to promote tourism.
Clark County School District Superintendent Brian Cram has said the district will require $600 million to $800 million every two years to accommodate more than 10,000 new students annually. A single high school costs $38 million.
Cram has also said the district will need an elementary school every 30 days. Elementary schools cost $8 million.
The superintendent was elated with Miller's partial backing of the Jones-Callister plan.
"It shows a great deal of personal courage by the governor," Cram said. "I share with him that schools and schoolchildren at this time in our state have to be our first priority. I would give the governor an 'A' today."
Clark County needs upwards of $10 billion for roads, water facilities, mass transit and other growth-related needs into the next century.
Miller has opposed spending state money on school construction, but his press secretary, Richard Urey, said Miller supports using new room tax revenues because that money doesn't come out of the general fund budget used to finance state government.
Home builders have also agreed to add $11 million from taxes on real estate transactions and another $10 million if local governments will agree to give up some of the tax money they receive. Jones and Callister wanted that money to go to education as well.
But Urey said Miller probably would not support using that money for school construction. He implied that Miller would rather that tax be raised at the local level than in the Legislature.
Circus Circus Enterprises Vice President Mike Sloan said the gaming industry wanted to help with education and other growth needs but will leave it to elected officials to decide exactly how the money is spent.
"These are the things to be sorted out governmentally," he said.
SUN REPORTER Teresa Hinds contributed to this story.
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