Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sides defend positions on disproportionate flow of state funds

If state money were divvied up based on population, Clark County would come out of every Legislature smelling like a rose.

But when Northern Nevadans control the Legislature, as they do now, the Southern part of the state often takes a bath.

During the 1995 session, Clark County should have received about $40 million more than it did for construction projects, if population determined where the money goes.

"Northern Nevada gets first shot at all the money, and Southern Nevada gets what's left over," said Assemblyman Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas.

Northern legislators serving in powerful positions, such as Assembly Co-Speaker Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, deny favoritism plays a part in which part of the state receives the most money.

"I own a condo in Las Vegas," Hettrick said. "I have just as much concern about the roads as anyone else."

Clark County's best year in a decade was 1991, when Southerners held key leadership positions. Sen. Jack Vergiels, D-Las Vegas, served as majority leader and Sen. Nick Horn, D-Las Vegas, chaired the Senate Finance Committee.

That session, Clark County received $169.1 million in capital improvement projects, or 73.8 percent of the pie. That was about $25 million more than it should have received based on population, which was 63.2 percent of the state that year. Included was $65.7 million for higher education, about $10 million more than it deserved based on population.

Washoe County, meanwhile, received only 15.5 percent of capital improvement funds, while its population stood at 20.2 percent of the state.

That was also the year Clark County won a heated battle with Washoe County over the so-call "fair share" distribution of state sales tax revenues.

In 1993, Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, returned as majority leader and Finance Committee chairman after Republicans regained control of the Senate.

Under Raggio, Clark County's share of capital improvements fell to 64.2 percent, exactly the same as its population at the time. But Washoe County received 28.6 percent, almost twice its share from the 1991 session, even though its population shrank to 19.4 percent of the state.

Those trends were accelerated in 1995, when Clark County's share dipped to 47.8 percent, while its population increased to 65.5 percent. Washoe, however, captured 36.1 percent of the capital improvement funds, while its population slipped even further, to 18.6 percent.

Last year, with Northerners in control of both houses, Clark County received only 20 percent of construction money earmarked for the university system, even though UNLV, with 12,851 full-time students, is about one-third larger than the University of Nevada, Reno.

The top four big-ticket items in this category all were in the North. They included $18.1 million for a University of Nevada, Reno, classroom building and $11.8 million for a Truckee Meadows Community College classroom building and parking.

The Legislature also added $11.4 million more to the University and Community College System of Nevada capital improvement list than was recommended by Gov. Bob Miller. Less than one-third of that added money went to Clark County.

"If you look at students and staff, dollar for dollar, the North has a disproportionate share," said Assemblywoman Sandi Krenzer, D-Las Vegas.

UNLV kinesiology Professor Gerald Landwer, chairman of the Faculty Senate, said faculty members believe UNR's administration does a better job working with the Legislature than UNLV's administration.

"They (UNR) have more continuity in their administration, and that probably has worked in their favor," he said.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, a UNLV alumnus, said former UNLV President Bob Maxson lost his effectiveness with the Legislature in the early 1990s after he become embroiled in the politics of the troubled men's basketball program.

Raggio, a UNR grad, argues that capital improvement budgets are fairly distributed.

"When I came into the Senate (in 1973) there were only one or two buildings on the UNLV campus," he said "We've put in a lot of effort to build up UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada."

Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, concurs.

"You still have a situation where the large counties support the smaller counties because they don't have the sales tax base that we have," she said.

But Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, sees back-room dealing.

"The day we start the session, three to four people get together to determine how much money they want," she said.

Last year, there were some trade-offs. Raggio helped engineer $3.2 million for an automobile museum in Washoe County. Boulder City nabbed $2.5 million for a railroad museum. Northern Nevada got $1.5 million for an interchange on Interstate 80, while Southern Nevada hauled in $620,000 for a highway sound wall.

Assembly Co-Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, also has a history of securing appropriations for his constituents.

In 1991, for instance, he got $50,000 for a Yerington elementary school, and in the late 1980s he successfully guided a bill to establish a veterans' cemetery in Fernley.

Sen. Sue Lowden, R-Las Vegas, said Dini is "the Senator Byrd of the Assembly when it comes to pork." U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., a frequent target of barbs from Republicans, was accused of pumping millions into his district when he chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Dini rejected the notion that he looks out only for his constituents, but he said Clark County must shoulder some of the blame.

"We say give us a few projects, and they can't come up with projects," Dini said.

Lowden and Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, last year introduced separate bills to establish a veterans' retirement home near Nellis Air Force Base. But identical versions of the bill died in the Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees.

Lowden blamed the loss on Clark County having just three lawmakers on the seven-member finance panel. More specifically, she blamed Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, for naming Reno Democrat Bernice Mathews to the committee instead of another Southern Nevadan.

But Coffin, the only other Democrat on the committee, noted that two Las Vegas Republicans, Sens. Bill O'Donnell and Ray Rawson, helped kill Lowden's bill in a 6-1 vote. Coffin was the only committee member to oppose the motion.

Titus said she was trying to play fair.

"I was in a position where I was trying not to be regionalistic," she said. "I have a reputation of being the Wicked Witch of the South."

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