Impact fees, auditor reform lead Las Vegas wish list for Legislature

The city of Las Vegas is preparing to promote nine bills before the 1999 Legislature, including one designed to give the auditor more independence and one that would impose impact fees for parks and fire services.

Already lobbyists Marvin Leavitt and Doug Dickerson are setting up shop in Carson City, preparing to take the city's wish list before legislative committees.

The auditing bill would amend the city charter to require that the auditor report directly to the City Council or a committee designated by the council.

The bill draft was born out of controversy created in March 1997 when City Auditor Susan Toohey was fired without explanation and later alleged in a $2.8 million wrongful termination suit that a number of her audit recommendations were not acted upon promptly.

Those 14 audits became a wedge in the gubernatorial election, when eventual winner Kenny Guinn accused Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, his Democratic opponent, of hiding audits.

An Audit Oversight Committee created by the City Council in the wake of Toohey's firing decided it would be easier to remove politics from the audit process if a committee or the council -- not the city manager -- oversaw the department.

Another bill allows the city to impose impact fees for parks and fire services.

City Manager Virginia Valentine said the fees would help force growth to pay for critical shortages in fire stations and parks, making "growth pay for growth."

The impact fees would help fund fire stations in the fastest growing areas before the city asks voters to pass a fire bond in 2000.

"It's a good idea that we look for alternative funding measures before we go to the voters," Valentine said.

One of the more controversial bills sought by the city is a proposal to eliminate or limit local governments' financial liability in construction-defect lawsuits.

In cases where a condominium brings suit, the bill seeks to cap liability at $50,000 per condominium association. Class-action and individual suits would also be capped at $50,000.

Typically, a municipality's liability is capped at $50,000. State law, however, is mum on whether that cap applies to each condominium association that brings suit, each condominium in the association or each alleged defect approved by the building inspector.

At one time the city had $37 million in theoretical liability based on three construction-defect lawsuits filed against it.

"We have a lot of exposure there," Valentine said. "We're not trying to get out of our responsibilities for negligence, but we're looking to be protected from frivolous lawsuits."

In San Diego County, 90 percent of all condominiums have been the subject of litigation within the past 10 years. As a result, construction insurance underwriters will no longer insure contractors who build condos there.

The city claims similar problems are beginning to occur throughout Clark County.

"This is really to protect consumers," Valentine said.

The city is also readying its lobbyists to learn more about bill drafts dealing with changes in eminent domain policies. Eminent domain is when a government takes private property for the public good, as in redevelopment projects.

"We don't know what those entail yet, but they will affect the city," Valentine said.

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