Renault, Henderson and Boulder City Relay Municipal Tribulations to State Legishes – Nevada Current

From insufficient students to keep the schools open, to the recruitment of police and firefighters who do not smoke weeds – leaders from Boulder City, Henderson and Renault, organized state lawmakers on Monday of the winds facing their individual municipalities.

Boulder City, established in 1931 to accommodate workers during the construction of the Hoover Dam, is now largely a pension community challenged to find workers among their aging population.

Optionally, Boulder City has no casinos. Its population is 15,000 inhabitants, compared to the total 2.3 million Clark district, city authorities said. The average age of residents is 51, compared to just under 39 in Clark County, and about half of the inhabitants are hired compared to 63% in the county.

The 1979 Ordinance limits Boulder City growth to no more than 120 new residential units per year. “We have never even approached the 120th number,” City Lawyer Brittany Walker told legislators.

While other jurisdictions fight overcrowded classrooms, the limited growth of Boulder City leads to a shortage of school -age children, says Walker.

“We saw our schools fighting the enrollment number and maintain teachers. Our population does not have the amount of children to support our schools, “she said, adding that the Clark County School Quarter” is trying to increase enrollment outside the city of Boulder so that we can continue to keep our schools open. ”

Increasing pain

In contrast, Henderson, the second largest city in Nevada behind Las Vegas, is trying to keep up with the needs of 7% growth from 2020 to 2024. Police and fire services eat 58% of Henderson’s annual budget in $ 392 million.

Consolidated tax revenue (certain sales and excise duties, state services tax collected by the Ministry of Motor Vehicles, and tax transfer on property sales), also known as C-Dat, which represents 45% of the city’s revenue, have entered Below predictions for the last six months, said city manager Stephanie Garcia-Vauza to legislators.

The ownership tax, which represents 28% of the budget, is estimated by a $ 100 rate of $ 100, estimated – the lowest in the southern part of Nevada and under the state median of 80 cents.

Although it is a more stable source of revenue, the increase in property tax is limited by 3% annually. Humble effort To adjust the cap or remove the reductions, they have ignited.

The cap is accused of exhaustion of local government offices and the promotion of the Clark County Commission In 2015, to compensate by increasing the sales tax to pay for more police, at the then sheriff of Clark Joe Lombardo County, who is now a governor.

This increase did not include Henderson, who has his own police forces.

“It will be necessary to increase public safety financing to maintain its high quality of services as our community continues to grow. Our fire service is of particular importance, “Henderson Mayor Michel Romero told members of the committee, adding that many of the city’s fire stations have been built for a long time and they are not equipped for the services we have today. Many do not even have separate bedrooms or equipment for women firefighters. ”

In November the voters rejected a Vote To cancel the restriction and increase ownership taxes with .06 cents to pay for fire services.

“With the unsuccessful fire voting initiative, many of our priorities will have to wait as those (fire station) renovation,” Romero said, noting the times of fire and emergency response, “do not hit our indicators and encounter more strains, while our Community continues to grow. While police have two external sources of revenue to help decline in time, the fire department does not do so, which we see as a potential for legislative action. “

Henderson spokesman did not answer when he was asked to develop potential legislation to deal with public safety financing.

Romero added that the city was “faced with significant challenges” that recruited and detained firefighters and police.

The city eliminates the prohibitions of facial hair and other “barriers in terms of physical appearance and such things,” Romero told legislators. “What we do not want to do is reduce our standards for the level of people who come in and what we see, many of them cannot pass the drug test. Marijuana is the biggest problem we saw that it discourages people to move further in the process. “

The largest small obstacles

Renault, the fourth largest city in Nevada, is fighting as other cities with lower than estimated revenue from its main source of revenue, City Reno Jackie Bryant told lawmakers.

“We budget 4% increase in C-danak compared to last year based on forecasts. During the budget, we are currently 0% growth. This is equal to approximately $ 4 million in a deficient fiscal year so far, “she said.

Franchise fees, which make up 14% of the budget, reduce by 12% of the budget amount as residents reduce connections with suppliers on telephone and cable TVs and retain energy to pay for food and housing, Bryant said.

Public safety costs eat 60% of the Reno Fund’s total budget of $ 354 million.

Renault is home to 54% of the population of Washoe County and 87% of the homes of accessible homes in the area.

“Growth has its challenges and one of them is up to date with the need for housing,” Bryant said. The average price of a family home in January was $ 575.114, much more than the average price per home in Las Vegas at $ 480,000.

“Renault has given up $ 11.3 million in sewage fees and donated $ 8.8 million to fund ARPA (American Rescue Plan Plan) to assist in the creation of accessible and workforce housing. In addition, this legislative body helped Renault support those who are financially struggling by allocating funding for deposit and rental assistance, “Bryant said.

The city spends $ 7 million a year on homeless problems and invests funds in additional assistance initiatives for persons who are not, for example,, such as the quick return program that moves people from streets to packaging services for two years with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, not with, not, with no, no, not, with no, With no, no, no, no, with no, with no, with no, with no, no, not with no, no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, no, not, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no, with no , with no, with no, no, with, with no, with no, no, with no, with no. Charging. Since its financing in July, the partnership with the volunteers of America and the Renault Housing has moved ten people into apartments.

“We will not reconcile the question. Labor costs are increasing. Revenue is decreasing, “Bryant said. “Add to this the increasing number of people who move to Renault, which creates increased need for services and infrastructure. It’s hard to maintain. “