Saturday, Nov. 8, 1997 | 6:37 a.m.
WATER has become the single most important issue in Southern Nevada's struggle to meet its growth needs.
Who uses it the most has become part of the debate over whether the Clark County Commission should impose a quarter-cent sales tax hike to help fund $3 billion in water and sewer facilities.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District, which is pushing the sales tax increase, warns that individual water bills will skyrocket if the hike isn't enacted.
Water District General Manager Pat Mulroy provided a list of the top 10 individual water users in her jurisdiction, knowing it might become fodder in the raging tax debate.
Mulroy predicted who likely would be on the list -- Strip megaresorts and developers who own the valley's most well-groomed golf courses, the very people pressing the hardest for the sales tax increase.
At the top of the list are the valley's two biggest developers, Del Webb Corp. and Howard Hughes.
Del Webb's three private courses -- Oasis, Highland Falls and Eagle Crest -- rank No. 1, using a combined 1.2 billion gallons of water from September 1996 through September 1997. Del Webb's water bill was $2.4 million.
Howard Hughes came in second, using 744.8 million gallons for its two courses, the TPC at Summerlin and TPC at Canyon. The Howard Hughes water bill was $1.6 million last year.
The three golf courses on city-owned land at Angel Park were third on the list using a combined 652.2 million gallons of water at a cost of $1.3 million.
MGM Grand was the highest-ranking megaresort on the list, coming in fourth with 511.6 million gallons and a water bill of $972,292.
Next came the golf courses at Spanish Trail, the upscale, gated community that Southern Nevada's leading citizens call home. A total of $507.3 million gallons were used there.
The Mirage headed the bottom five on the list, using 467.3 million gallons of water in the past year, with a bill of $916,742.
It was followed by the Excalibur, Flamingo Hilton, Canyon Gate Country Club and the Las Vegas Hilton.
Mulroy concedes these companies would be hit hard if the sales tax hike isn't enacted.
But to them, it's part of the cost of doing business, she says, adding that the companies likely would pass on the hits to the consumer.
Mark Brown, a senior vice president at Howard Hughes, agrees.
"It's not a big issue for us," he says.
If water rates go up, Brown says, membership fees at Howard Hughes' country clubs will increase, as well.
Brown says Howard Hughes supports the tax increase because tourists will be picking up a large share of the tab.
"As a community, we would be unwise not to take advantage of that," he says.
Mulroy insists the biggest losers, if water rates rise, will be individual homeowners who use 64 percent of the district's water.
But senior activist Ken Mahal says the sales tax push is an attempt by casinos and developers to save themselves a ton of money.
"It's the same old thing," he says. "They're the biggest users of government, but they expect you and I to pay for it. They put the burden on the little guy who can't fight back."
How will the debate end up?
We should know soon. The County Commission takes up the subject Nov. 18.
He's already one of the most influential members of the Nevada Legislature.
Now, Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio is moving up in the corporate world.
The Reno Republican is slated to become a "special director" in Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Inc., which is building the Venetian megaresort on the site of the old Sands hotel-casino.
Raggio is on the board of Santa Fe Gaming Corp., owned by Paul and Sue Lowden.
Adelson and the Lowdens are embroiled in bitter disputes with the Culinary Union.
Some prominent U.S. senators, including Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., will be wined and dined in Las Vegas Nov. 23.
The American Gaming Association plans to hold a campaign fund-raiser for Lott and company, all members of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee on Capitol Hill.
The senators will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the MGM Grand before heading to a big donor event at Shadow Creek, a country club owned by Mirage Resorts Inc.
Earlier this year, the AGA, the casino industry's Washington lobby, brought a group of Democratic senators to Las Vegas for a fund-raiser that took in about $85,000.
Among those expected to be in Lott's entourage this month is Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., the GOP whip and No. 2 man in the Senate. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., chairman of the Senatorial Campaign Committee, also may make the trek.
The high-powered visit has stirred up talk it might be timed with an announcement that Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., will challenge Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. next year.
Ensign, who seems to be burning bridges with the House leadership, is said to be gearing up to run against Reid.
Some are predicting Ensign will make his announcement a couple days before the Senate leadership arrives.
There's more evidence of the growing role Las Vegas is playing in the revitalization of the American labor movement.
The AFL-CIO, which has 13 million members across the country, is holding its annual executive council meeting on the Strip in March.
The council met this year in Los Angeles, where it focused national attention on the Frontier hotel-casino strike.
During a February visit here, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called Las Vegas "the hottest union city in America."
The AFL-CIO has been conducting a massive organizing drive within Southern Nevada's construction industry.
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