Published Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019 | 1:47 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019 | 5:22 p.m.
Clark County approved a one-eighth of a cent tax hike Tuesday for education and social programs.
The increase, which was approved on a 5-2 vote and starts in January, projects to bring in $54 million.
The tax is set to expire in 2021, although the commission can vote to extend it. Recipients, including the Clark County School District, must apply for the money through a grant process.
The decision comes after some apprehension from commissioners, who expressed displeasure with how the state authorized counties to allocate the money under Assembly Bill 309.
The bill, signed into law during the 2019 Nevada legislative session, dictates that revenue go toward services like education, affordable housing programs, workforce training and truancy reduction programs. State lawmakers also expressed the desire that half the money go toward education.
Commissioner Larry Brown, who was one of the naysayers in the decision, said that he wasn’t comfortable raising a tax for anything that goes outside improving infrastructure, public safety and social programs and that funding for education should not fall on the shoulders of local government. Brown and Lawrence Weekly each voted against the increase.
“Every time we the county have to raise money for those causes outside our core mission, it’s a slippery slope,” Brown said. “Regardless how small and how large, it takes away from what county government should be doing.”
Commissioner Tick Sergerblom noted that because legislators didn’t have the votes in Carson City to give Nevada schools the funding it needs, the responsibility falls on the county.
“There is a stranglehold outside Clark County by people who refuse to support the things we support,” he said.
In July, the county had a joint meeting with CCSD to discuss solutions in education, and how the district would use money funded from a sales tax toward things like early childhood and adult education, teacher incentives and reducing truancy.
“This is one of the things that will bring CCSD and the county together,” Superintendent Jesus Jara said during the commission meeting. “My board has had conversations on partnerships and collaboration, especially around early childhood, truancy and other initiatives. We will be eager to partner with you and sign an agreement to work with you around this very key issue for our children.”
But Weekly said he was uneasy about moving forward with a decision without more details on the district’s commitment to a partnership with the county. Commissioners have asked CCSD for more flexibility in using their facilities after school hours.
Weekly also said the tax hike will hurt the county’s most vulnerable residents. “You got to be 100 here with this one, folks,” he said. “Any kind of increase causes an impact to folks in low-income communities.”
Some members of the public also expressed their opposition to the tax hike.
Las Vegas resident Cyrus Hojjaty called the sales tax a “regressive policy” during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“There are many other ways to raise revenue,” he said. “With the waste I’ve seen at the school district, it’s just going to feed the beast even more.”
