Tax hike, bonds highlight Nevada ballot questions

CARSON CITY -- This election will test the sentiment whether Nevada voters are willing to spend more on schools, water projects and fire protection.

Nine of the 17 counties, including the heavily populated areas of Clark and Washoe counties, will present bond issues or tax increase proposals on their ballots.

"People don't like taxes, but they are willing to accept responsibility to pay for what they want," says Carole Vilardo, executive director of the Nevada Taxpayers Association. If the issue is well presented and well thought-out, voters will approve, she said.

Examples, she said came in the September primary election when voters in Douglas County and Pahrump voted in favor of tax issues.

Clark County leads the list in November, asking voters whether they favor a one-quarter of a percent increase in the sales tax or whether water fees should be raised to pay for a $2.3 billion upgrade of the water delivery system in Southern Nevada.

The issue has been controversial since the 1997 Legislature when casino and construction interests pushed through the bill to allow the sales tax to be raised. The Clark County Commission, instead of enacting the tax, decided to put the advisory question on the ballot.

If the sales tax is not increased, higher water rates would be necessary. Question 1 on the Clark County ballot says monthly water bills would go from 5 cents to 16 cents per 1,000 gallons by the year 2010. And water connection fees for a home would jump from $3,400 to up to $28,000 by the year 2027.

The taxpayers association supported the sales tax issue during the 1997 Legislature.

To keep up with the growth of students, the Clark County School District has proposed a "roll over" bond issue, keeping the tax rate at the present 55 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to build schools. It would use this tax money to be collected over the next 10 years to repay bonds used for classroom construction and rehabilitation of existing buildings.

The school bond would generate more than $3 billion. The 1997 Legislature also agreed to raise the real estate transfer tax and the hotel room tax to pay part of the cost of the new construction.

Voters in Indian Springs in Clark County will decide if they want to raise their property tax by 1/2 cent per $100 of assessed valuation to install a 911 emergency telephone system. Boulder City residents will decide whether voter approval is required in the future for any residential, commercial or industrial development of the Eldorado Valley area controlled by the city.

Two years ago, voters in Washoe County turned down a $196 million school bond issue. It was the first time a school bond was ever defeated in Washoe County. That election was clouded in controversy as residents of Incline Village at Lake Tahoe opposed the measure, and there was criticism the district did not consider other alternatives.

The district is back this time with a two-part question. It proposes a $131 million bond issue to build three new high schools. That would not require an increase in the property tax. It would allow the present rate to continue instead of decreasing as the present debt is paid off.

The second question calls for a $47.1 million bond issue for construction of four elementary schools and a technical academic alternate school. That would cost the owner of a $150,000 home $21 extra a year.

In the last two years, Storey County residents have defeated two school bond issues. An $8 million bond in 1996 was beaten by 90 votes. A $1.5 million tax initiative for schools lost in 1997 by 42 votes. This time the district has broken the question into two parts.

The first question is whether to issue $1.8 million in bonds which would mean a ten cent increase in the property rate. The second is for $2.5 million which would raise the property tax by 20 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The money in both cases would be used for repairs and expansion of some classrooms. Storey County Superintendent Dan Piel called this a "bare bones" request to rehabilitate some of the older buildings on the Comstock.

Eureka County, which used to be awash in cash due to the prosperous mining industry, is asking the voters whether it should raise the property tax for school construction. The school board wants to impose a property tax of up to 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for four years.

Voters in Humboldt County are being asked to continue the present 20 cent property tax rate for school construction until the year 2010. An advisory question faces residents of Lander County on imposing a one-quarter percent sales tax for construction and improvement of water projects, schools and flood prevention facilities.

Nye County voters will decide whether to continue for another 10 years the 58 cents on the property tax rate for school construction. The ballot question in Mineral County is to increase the sales tax by 1/4 cent for water, sewer and solid waste facilities and for flood prevention.

In Carson City, residents are being asked to vote in favor of a 5-cent increase on the property tax rate for expansion, operating and equipping the library. Also on the ballot is a question for a 4 cent property tax increase to hire more firefighters to meet federal safety requirements.

There are other miscellaneous issues on the ballots including nuclear waste in Lincoln County. There are dueling proposals on the radioactive waste question. A citizens initiative wants to know if the county should oppose shipment of spent nuclear fuel through the county on U.S. Highway 93 or State Route 375. The county commission is asking whether it should continue to try to attract a transfer station in Lincoln County for switching trainloads of waste containers to trucks for transport to Yucca Mountain.

Lincoln County voters also will decide whether to abolish the television district in the north part of the county; White Pine will vote whether to reduce its five-member county commission to three members; Nye County will decide whether its county commissioners should be continue to be elected by districts or switch to an at-large election; Lander County will decide whether to have five residents on the Kingston Town Board, instead of three residents and two county commissioners and Crescent Valley in Eureka County will vote whether its advisory town board should be a governing board.

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