Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Poll: Citizens support arts center

Valley residents overwhelmingly support the creation of a "world class" performing arts center paid for through a vehicle rental tax, a new poll commissioned by project supporters indicates.

"I can't think of another project that has such broad-based support for community building," said Donald Snyder, president of Boyd Gaming and chairman of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation. He was part of a group which spoke Thursday to the Las Vegas Sun editorial board about the survey.

The report prepares the groundwork for the next step, which is getting the Clark County Commission to approve the 2 percent rental tax. During the last legislative session state lawmakers gave the county the authority to enact such a tax. Commissioners contacted Thursday said they hadn't decided which way to go.

"There's a lot of merit to the performing arts center, but I certainly want to hear both sides of the tax issue before I make a decision," County Commissioner Mark James said.

His colleague, Bruce Woodbury, said much the same: "I'm very much in favor of these projects, but I'm always concerned about raising taxes, and I want to hear from all sides."

Snyder said he knows "there's always a certain amount of nervousness associated with implementing a tax, even if it is a tax on tourists."

However, he said, "the broad-based support we've seen in the Luntz survey ... helps position the conversation in a positive way."

The survey, performed by the Luntz Research Companies, a nationally known outfit headed by Frank Luntz, polled 400 Valley residents. Luntz said that the margin of error in the poll was 5.7 percent.

The poll was conducted by telephone, and the respondents were given an outline of the positives -- building a cultural institution they and their children could enjoy -- and the negatives, which were centered around introduction of the car rental tax and the potential impact on tourists.

"They understand all the negatives and they don't care," Luntz said. "It says something about the intensity of support for the project."

The survey asked respondents a series of questions outlining positives and negatives of the project. At the end of the survey, the poll-taker asked the question: "So after thinking about the benefits and the cost of a new performing arts center, and knowing that it would be built downtown, what is your recommendation to the Clark County Commissioners?"

The options given were "build" or "don't build." By a 71-22 percent majority, respondents chose the former. Another 7 percent did not take a position.

The plan for the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center, in the works for almost 10 years, would create two buildings on close to five acres of land in the city's City Parkway development on 61 acres of former railroad land downtown. One would seat about 2,500 people, and the other about 700. The cost would be about $125 million.

The city already has agreed to place the center on its property, and is negotiating the terms with the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation.

Snyder said the tax could raise up to $5 million a year for 20 years, allowing bonds to be sold for the center's construction. However, the state law allowing for the car rental tax stipulates that it be used for both the performing arts center and a culinary school supported by management and labor of Las Vegas restaurants. It's unclear how much money would be raised and how it would be split.

The project would give Las Vegas a "world class" center for Broadway shows, opera, concerts and other productions, an amenity supporters say is lacking in the city. An endowment of $60 million, to be raised from private and corporate donors in Las Vegas and across the country, and possibly from selling the naming rights, would ensure that the operating costs are met while keeping events affordable to families.

Family formed the core of the strongest argument for the center, said Luntz. "There's something about family entertainment, the family experience, that drives (this community)," he said.

He pointed to poll results that indicated 88 percent of respondents believed the center would provide "good cultural events and quality entertainment for families," and 81 percent believed that it would be "great for the schools and the kids who would otherwise not be able to experience world-class cultural events."

While the support is generally unchallenged, the difficulty will be unraveling a tangle of politics, from the reluctance to raise any taxes to the passage of the state law that allowed -- but did not implement -- the car rental tax.

"It was basically the legislature passing the buck to the county commission, but it's not the first time that happened so we'll just have to deal with it," said Woodbury. When asked if that would influence the county vote, he said, "No, you take the issue as it comes, and if that's how the legislature thinks it has to be then so be it. We have tough issues we have to vote on all the time and this is just one more."

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, pushed for the law, which passed during the Legislature's second special session. She said it was appropriate for the county to have the vote on enacting the tax because as the local jurisdiction it would be responsible for collecting the money. She said the new survey ought to convince commissioners to enact the car rental tax of 2 percent.

"The Luntz report proved that anybody that supports this is on the side of what the public is on," she said. "Politically, the commissioners and otherwise should feel comfortable doing the will of the people."

Car rental agencies don't feel the same way. To them, the tax is another burden on their businesses. In July, a manager at Dollar Rent-a-Car sent a letter to commission members, pointing out that taxes and fees already account for about 27 percent of car rental costs, and that in 2006, when the Consolidated Car Rental Facility opens two miles south of the airport, an additional $3 will be tacked on.

Bernie Kaufman, past president of the Nevada Car Rental Association, said the group is looking into whether the bill is even legal, although he would not elaborate. "We will, I can tell you, be against it," he said. "We feel we have enough taxes."

Opponents of car rental taxes also point out that it is not always only tourists or out-of-town business people who need to rent cars. The law does exempt state residents from the tax if the vehicle is rented to temporarily replace the person's car after an accident or during repairs.

Woodbury and James said the county also must figure out some legal issues. Woodbury said his law firm may be involved with car rental agencies, although he does not represent any, and he may have to abstain from a vote. James said the issue of the county's liability must be resolved.

"There are some questions we would need to have answered definitively about whether the county would have any ongoing responsibility for operating the performing arts center," he said.

Snyder said he understands the many questions involved in the process, but he feels confident that with everybody supportive of the concept -- a performing arts center available for the community -- the rest of the issue will be resolved. After all, he said, the discussion about the center started back in the 1990s.

"This is clearly a situation in which people have the interest in doing the right thing but the politics make it a little more complicated," he said. But, he added: "The project itself can overcome that sort of thing because of how overwhelming the support is."

archive