Panel rues judge support positions

The Clark County Commission has unanimously approved a $579 million budget for 1998-99, but not without complaining about having to pick up the costs of providing support staff for three new District Court judges.

The Legislature approved the three positions and the state pays their salaries, but the county has budgeted $1.85 million for 36 new positions to staff their offices.

"They are forcing this upon us," Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates said. "What do we have to do to get additional revenues, because the cost is killing us."

Finance Director George Stevens told the board that the Legislature would have to approve of the county tapping additional revenue sources.

Gates hinted that the board may have to consider raising property taxes if revenues continue to decline and the Legislature keeps mandating costs.

"If we don't go to the Legislature," Gates said, "I'm not sure where we can get additional revenue to offset these costs."

The county's new budget represents a 7.4 percent increase over the current fiscal cycle that ends June 30 and includes 152 new positions at a cost of $6 million. Besides the judicial positions, 18 are required to staff a new fire station. Those 54 positions will cost the county $3.6 million.

Commissioner Mary Kincaid said that's one-third of the positions but more than half the cost.

"We need to offset the expense," Gates said. "If we have to pay for that, we're taking away from other departments and services we provide."

Commissioner Myrna Williams said there were capital costs for the new judges not provided by the Legislature.

"Maybe we could prevail upon the Legislature to assist with some of the capital costs attendant with this," Williams said. "If we are better able to adjudicate some cases in a timely fashion, we ought to be able to cut down on number of beds, accelerate the system, and save the state money."

Stevens said the county in the past has been able to absorb the costs of such legislative mandates because of the increasing growth-related revenue, but projections show a downswing in revenue increases.

"In the future we'll have less ability to do that," Stevens said, reminding commissioners that during a recent budget workshop he told them about a $10 million shortfall in growth-related operating costs for public safety and criminal justice over the next five years.

The commission on Monday also approved a $235 million budget for the Las Vegas Valley Water District for 1998-99 -- a 12 percent increase over the current budget.

Most of that is due to a $10 million increase in bond payments and a $3.5 million increase in major construction, officials said.

And 43 contracts worth $113 million are anticipated to be awarded before the current fiscal year is out.

The largest share of the budget -- $104 million -- will go to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the regional water provider for Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley Water District provides 65.27 percent of the SNWA budget.

The SNWA is committed to spending $717 million on water system improvements over the next several years.

"We're spending $1 million a day," General Manager Pat Mulroy said.

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