Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Leaders rally for justice bond

Supporters of a $120 million public safety bond referendum hope Clark County voters will remember these magic words when they cast their ballots Sept. 3: No tax increase.

Those words were repeated like a mantra by local law enforcement, judicial and governmental leaders Tuesday as they launched a media campaign to persuade residents to vote for more jail space, courtrooms and juvenile facilities.

"Question 1 will allow Clark County residents the chance to help the criminal justice system without having to increase their taxes," said District Judge Nancy Becker, joined by fellow bond supporters Sheriff Jerry Keller, District Attorney Stewart Bell and Family and Youth Services Director Kirby Burgess.

Fellow judges draped in black robes surrounded Becker on the Clark County Courthouse steps as she asked the public to back her group's efforts.

"Support money for building new facilities without raising taxes. Support justice," Becker said as 250 other public employees stood in the courtyard behind her. "Fight crime, and fight criminals and support Question 1."

Even with no effect on local taxes, it's going to be a tough sell because of the competition -- a school construction bond referendum and a 20-cent tax increase for more police officers that voters face in the Nov. 5 general election.

They're also fighting history. A three-part bond referendum for more cops, jail space and police substations and a school security measure failed in 1993.

But proponents are confident they can get their message across this time.

"In my 30 years of promoting bonds, I have yet to see one better organized and well-planned," said Las Vegas businessman Kenny Guinn, who has signed on to raise funds for the publicity effort.

Public officials are prohibited from using tax dollars to promote issues, but can seek private donations. Guinn said the group has raised $100,000 toward its goal of $350,000 to promote the referendum.

In addition, R&R Advertising has donated its services, but will receive its usual 15 percent commission on media buys.

While it won't raise taxes, residents would be voting themselves out of a small county property tax rebate by approving the bond -- about $14 a year for a $100,000 home. Even if the referendum passes, residents could see a roll-back from the county of about $3, because the county is retiring existing general obligation bonds.

"This doesn't cost a dime because we're retiring bonds that are being paid off," Bell said.

Family and Youth Services would receive $45 million to double the size of its juvenile detention center, add more beds to the Spring Mountain Youth Camp, expand Child Haven and renovate the juvenile program's administration building.

The remainder of the bond revenue would be split evenly between a 1,500-bed expansion of the Clark County Detention Center and construction of a regional justice center to house Justice, District and Las Vegas Municipal courts and space for district attorneys, public defenders and the county clerk.

All the facilities would be contained within a nine-block radius of the existing detention center, Becker said.

Expansion is needed in all areas because the county's population has doubled since the existing facilities were built, Becker said. And renovating the existing courts would cost almost as much as building new ones, she said.

Witnesses, defendants and jurors all are crammed into the same hallways waiting for trial, Becker said, fueling an escalation in courthouse violence that includes a shooting on the courthouse steps.

"There's only so many people you can cram into a building before it affects the environmental quality," Becker said.

But the most urgent need is in the Family and Youth Services facilities, which Burgess described as overcrowded and dilapidated.

"An overwhelming number of kids are coming to our facilities," Burgess said. "We are straining to keep up."

Juvenile crime has escalated along with the population growth, Burgess said. Violent crime is up 300 percent among juveniles, and child abuse and neglect have doubled from 1984-94, he said. Armed robbery is up 1,100 percent, while sexual assault is up 400 percent and battery is up 200 percent in the same span, he said.

But juvenile facilities haven't changed in 25 years, Burgess said. Child Haven, the home for neglected and abused children, has the same 80 beds as when it opened in 1970 and typically holds 100 kids or more sleeping on floors and doubled up in bunks, Burgess said, with an additional 30 kids farmed out to foster homes.

The juvenile detention center has 112 beds, but regularly holds 150 kids on campus, Burgess said. Another 50-60 are placed on electronic monitoring or home supervision, he said.

Keller said he could have asked voters last summer to approve a jail bond referendum, but instead created a regional jail commission that was committed to filling every available bed in the valley before asking for more money.

The detention center is designed for 1,500 inmates and holds about 1,750, Keller said. An additional 400 inmates are farmed out to Henderson and North Las Vegas, he said.

Keller predicted that all 3,200 available beds countywide will be filled by year's end.

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