Tuesday, March 25, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- The Legislature probably won't pass a bill imposing a quarter-cent sales tax in Clark County to help pay for a $2.9 million water project, said Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas.
Goldwater said Monday that it would be unwise to approve legislation that Gov. Bob Miller indicated last week he wouldn't sign. Miller said the Legislature should pass a bill enabling the Clark County Commission to raise the tax.
"If he's not going to sign something, there's no point in sending it over," said Goldwater, chairman of the Assembly Infrastructure Committee.
Goldwater said enabling legislation "will probably be what is most politically palatable." The County Commission has approved a resolution supporting the tax.
The committee, holding its second hearing on the water plan Monday, listened to a presentation from the Southern Nevada Water Authority on conservation.
A Las Vegan testifying via teleconferencing said casinos should pay for the water project instead of taxpayers. Clark, Washoe and Churchill counties have the highest sales tax rate in the state.
"Casinos pay a lousy 6.25 percent, and I pay 7 percent sales tax," said Mike DeFloria, a 33-year Las Vegas resident. "We must put a stop to raising people's taxes in order to subsidize the megaresorts and mines in Nevada."
Toward the end of DeFloria's testimony, which included various statistics on taxation in Nevada and other Western states, Goldwater challenged him on the accuracy of his figures.
"Can you state the source of those statistics?" Goldwater asked.
"I'll challenge anybody to prove me wrong," DeFloria said, later offering $1,000 for information countering his assertions. Goldwater cited a couple of areas where he thought DeFloria was wrong and then joked that he was trying to collect on the money.
Thelma Clark of the Nevada Seniors Coalition attended the hearing in Carson City and agreed afterward with DeFloria.
"We're getting a double whammy," she said during an interview. "They're going to raise our rates, and they're going to raise the sales tax."
Clark said public officials should work to slow the growth rate.
"The County Commission should have awakened from their sleep and controlled growth," she said. "Let growth pay for growth. I don't care if they pay $500 for a new home. Let them live in a mobile home like I do."
Goldwater said after the hearing that water rates would soar even higher if the sales tax isn't raised.
"Thirty percent of the sales tax is paid by tourists," he said. "One hundred percent of the water rates are paid by residents."
Water officials are asking for a 28-year sales tax increase to fund a second water pipe, already under construction, from Lake Mead to Las Vegas. It would handle the growth in the county's 1.1 million population to 2.5 million in about 20 years.
Also included in the funding package are increases in water rates, hook-up fees and an excise tax.
The sales tax also would help pay for treatment facilities.
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