Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Lawmakers eye revenue that would fracture county’s finances

Money Clark County Stands to Lose

This is a partial list of bills and their potential effects on Clark County’s budget. If enacted — or ignored in the case of AB45 — the cost to Clark County over two years is about $343 million.

  • AB433: Would force the county to reopen and fund the outpatient oncology clinic at University Medical Center. Cost to Clark County over two years: $6.8 million.
  • AB543: Would redirect 4 cents of every $100 of assessed property valuation to the state. Cost to Clark County over two years: $60.8 million.
  • SB71: Would expand certain tax exemptions, cut DMV fees for certain veterans. Cost to Clark County over two years: $18.7 million.
  • AB147: Would force local governments to give a 5 percent preference on public works bids to local bidders: Cost to Clark County over two years: $1.48 million.
  • AB521: Would remove a requirement that firefighters be employed five years before certain types of cancer are considered occupational diseases. Without considering costs of treatment, the county figured the two-year cost for simply testing firefighters at: $989,742.
  • AB64: Would increase the number of judges in the 8th Judicial District, but provide no funding. Cost to Clark County over two years: $28.3 million.
  • AB45: Would shift the cost of providing legal defense for indigents to the state. If enacted, it would save the county over two years: $96 million.
  • SB382: Would change the way the state allocates Medicaid payments to hospitals for indigent health care. Loss to University Medical Center over two years: $91.9 million.
  • Lawmakers are also considering taking from the indigent accident fund. Cost to Clark County over two years: $38 million.

As lawmakers work to fill the hole in the state’s budget, they’re digging a deeper one in Clark County’s.

County coffers have become a favorite target of the Legislature this session. Lawmakers cast several votes recently on measures that would either move county revenue to the state or shift costs from the state to the county. One would take $60 million in property tax revenue from the county over the next two years. Two others would leave the county to make up for $44 million in indigent care funding for University Medical Center and $96 million in indigent legal defense expenses.

In all, the Legislature is still considering at least eight bills that would affect the county’s budget. If those bills pass, the cost to Clark County over two years would be about $343 million.

“In past sessions the challenge has been they (legislators) have proposed unfunded mandates,” Clark County Manager Virginia Valentine said. “This session they’re reducing state support for mandates and taking our revenue.”

County officials have argued that the recession that has pushed the state into the red has also taken a toll on their budget. Clark County faces a $123 million shortfall this year, a figure that includes some but not all of the proposed unfunded mandates or grabs by the state.

Valentine told lawmakers Tuesday that the declining value of commercial property will cost the county as much as $36 million in property tax revenue by 2011. She added that the county has left vacant 450 positions in county government and 200 at University Medical Center because of the shortfall.

Local governments, particularly Clark County, have long been a convenient target for the state.

But Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association and a close observer of state government since 1973, said this year is egregious.

“It will be one of the worst sessions for local governments in my memory,” she said, adding that the state’s proposed taking of county money amounts to “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

County Commissioner Tom Collins, a former assemblyman, said state lawmakers forget that “in trying to fix their budget problems, they are creating more budget problems back home, where people expect to receive those services.”

“I just hope that in taking all this money and forcing these expenses, they are going to give something back,” Collins said.

Legislators from Clark County have proposed and supported many of the bills targeting Clark County coffers. Twenty-nine of the 42 Assembly members are from Clark County, as are 14 of 21 state senators.

“We’re totally sympathetic to their position,” said Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas. “But we’re looking at a three-legged stool.” He said lawmakers must first make cuts, then add back any federal stimulus money to the state budget “and then we have to have revenue.

“We can’t raise enough (revenue), so we have to look under every rock,” Oceguera said.

Clark County has been targeted this session because of its large tax base and the high pay of its employees, according to some lawmakers.

Clark County is “being treated like a cash cow this session,” said Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, calling it “fiscal envy” on the part of state lawmakers.

The county can do little to raise money on its own. It lacks “home rule,” meaning county leaders must obtain approval from the Legislature for actions as minor as raising the price of a marriage license.

In exchange for taking the county revenue, Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, had proposed a bill to grant local governments more authority to raise revenue.

Care said Tuesday that his bill is no longer being considered.

Asked about giving local governments more authority to raise taxes to replace money lost to the state, Jeff Fontaine, executive director of the Nevada Association of Counties, said, “If the state wants to raise taxes, that’s a decision they should make.”

At Tuesday’s legislative hearing, George Stevens, chief financial officer of the county and its medical center, outlined an alternative to stripping the county of a portion of the property tax. A portion of the tax set aside for state and county construction could instead be diverted to the state to solve its budget problem for the next two years, but the county would need it back after that period to continue work on the Las Vegas Beltway.

Lawmakers offered no response to Stevens’ proposal.

Sun Capital Bureau Chief Cy Ryan contributed to this report.

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