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May 27, 2005
CRISIS AVERTED Nye sales tax revenues spikeCOUNTY MANAGER, COMMISSIONERS BELIEVE BUDGET COULD HAVE SURPLUS COME OCTOBER; DEMEO SAYS DEPUTIES WILL NOT BE TERMINATED
By DOUG McMURDO Unfortunately, any budget adjustments couldn't be made until October when the county receives its tax redistribution from the state. And while top officials are cautiously optimistic the revenues will be sufficient to see them through another year - as well as allow the county commissioners to keep their promise not to augment the budget with PETT funds - it seems everyone has subscribed to the theory of hope for the best, expect the worst. PETT is an acronym for Payments Equal to Taxes, funds the Energy Department pays Nye County for its study of Yucca Mountain, the proposed national nuclear waste repository situated in central Nye County. "We're tight," Maher candidly admitted in an interview Wednesday. "We're trying to put Jack back in the box and he hasn't been in there for a very long time." Nowhere is the budget shortfall more desperate than at the Nye County Sheriff's Office, where Tony DeMeo had $1.5 million cut from his budget (though those numbers have been hotly contested by commissioners) and has subsequently announced he would have to lay off patrol deputies in order to stay within budget. On Thursday the sheriff recanted his previous comment, initially published in the May 18 edition of the Pahrump Valley Times, saying no "pink slips" have been handed out and he doesn't foresee that happening. DeMeo said he hopes there is a subsidy come October but until then he must maintain his current budget. "We can not lay off one person," DeMeo said, adding that doing so would impact county grants that are used to partially fund 10 deputy positions. And while DeMeo has been at odds with a majority of county commissioners for quite some time, there are signs the frosty relationship is about to thaw. "I'll keep as many cops on the street as I can and we'll make adjustments elsewhere," he said. DeMeo added, "Hopefully, once the numbers are realized, if there is indeed a subsidy, I'm very confident the commissioners will adjust my budget, but until then I have to work within my budget. I thank the county commissioners for the opportunity that in the foreseeable future the budget will be amended." "We have tried to come up with ways to help the sheriff," said Commission Chairwoman Candice Trummell in a Wednesday interview, and she praised Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall's grant writing skills. She said it was discussed that Marshall could be outsourced to other county departments to oversee grants, which would preclude commissioners from having to hire a full time grant writer. The money saved from not having to fill that position, she said, could go into the sheriff's coffers. So what has occurred that leads officials to believe there will be a subsidy in the first place? In a word: taxes. According to a report released by the Nevada Department of Taxation, Nye County's sales tax revenue jumped more than 20 percent from March 2004 to March 2005. This represents a more than $7 million dollar increase, from roughly $35.8 million last year to more than $43 million this past March. Year-to-date figures are even more impressive. To date Nye County's consolidated taxes are at roughly $346 million; last year Nye finished at around $263.4 million. The difference represents a better than 31- percent jump. Only Storey County, much smaller than Nye in terms of population, experienced a higher percentage increase among Nevada's 17 counties. It's important to note that Nye County will receive only a slice of the sales tax generated here, not the entire pie. "Thank goodness for Wal-Mart," joked Trummell, who said the combined sales and use tax increases is the "big reason" for the optimism. There are still concerns. "We don't know what the Legislature is going to do," Trummell said, regarding the three percent cap lawmakers placed on property taxes earlier this year. "We support the Legislature (on the cap), but we don't know what the figures will be, so we have to be conservative until we find out what the property tax bill is." Another concern regards the paying back of a $3 million PETT loan the county borrowed last year to subsidize the budget. Commissioners in a 3-2 vote opted to shore up the budget with PETT funds, which obligates the county to surrender $600,000 a year for the next five years to make good on the note. Trummell and Commissioner Patricia Cox voted against last year's augmentation. The most pressing concern from the perspective of county officials and residents is the sheriff's office budget and the question, Are things really as bad as earlier reported? Maher in his projections said there was, in his mind, an "89 to 95 percent" probability factor that the $10.5 million budget was acceptable, especially when grants received by the sheriff's office were taken into consideration. "This budget isn't cut in stone," continued Maher. "I felt the board would have a (better) idea (of the real budget picture) by October. "It's not like we're not trying to work with them," said Trummell. "I think now there's more acceptance." She added that the sheriff doesn't pay his department's utility bill; the board has paid for the department's vehicles - along with the roughly $20,000 worth of police equipment that goes into each of the sedans - and the county's buildings and grounds department maintains the fleet out of its budget, not the sheriff's. There is also the issue of salaries and the more favorable retirement benefits sheriff's office employees receive. Trummell made it clear she did not begrudge the better benefits, acknowledging the difficult job deputies perform, "but the board can only do what it can do." What the board could do in October, however, might be dramatic given the boost in sales tax revenue. "It's hard to believe we could have a deficit come October," Maher said. Trummell agreed. "We should have a carryover ... our projections were very conservative." Maher noted that in addition to the increase in tax revenue, the Mountain Falls subdivision was "getting ready to pop. We're on the upswing. If growth continues we could have a substantial increase in a year." Maher and Trummell conceded that more people might bring in more revenue - but newcomers also place a deeper burden on the county to provide services. It is important to note the county has created a so-called "stabilization fund" with $1.2 million in PETT money that would be used in emergency situations. As for the sheriff's budget, Trummell offered an olive branch. "We know that Tony's budget is tight, but if he is prudent he'll be OK. Some of the dust isn't going to settle until we get to the end of the fiscal year." Maher was even more enthusiastic. "I'm amazed. I'm tickled with where we are. It says something about (Nye County) employees. We have a great group of employees. I saw that in the budget meetings. People were working together." "It wasn't easy to do but many gave up money." If DeMeo's budget concerns are sound, it stands to reason District Attorney Bob Beckett, Pahrump Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill, and Fifth District judges John Davis and Robert Lane would feel similar pressure. They do, according to Maher, who said the judges and district attorney do have financial needs for their departments. The hope is that there is enough of a carryover to "help them out." Trummell said she and her peers on the board gave DeMeo everything he asked for, with the exception of filling new positions and increasing his administrative staff. "Everything else we approved," she said. "We're trying to do everything we can," Maher added. The rest is up to DeMeo, but as far as Trummell is concerned the sheriff's announcement that he would have to lay off street deputies was uncalled for. "The county commission provided him with enough to keep the status quo ... We won't micromanage the sheriff's department. If he feels he needs to lay off 28 deputies that's between him and the public." "The board is really trying to make this work," added Maher. "I know the board is doing everything it can and (commissioners) are trying to be fiscally responsible. It's a case of the wants versus the needs and what you have in between." While DeMeo doesn't agree entirely, he did say he would make the necessary adjustments to stay within his budget without laying off deputies, but his inability to hire additional officers will further stress a department already on the edge of collapse given the vast geographic size of Nye County. The Washoe County sheriff, said DeMeo, has agreed to prepare a staffing study for the Nye County Sheriff's Office, for free, that should be completed sometime in July. "It will be objective and it will give us an idea of where we are and what we need," said DeMeo. In the meantime, the sheriff promised no layoffs would be forthcoming and he and his staff will do what it must to provide services. |
