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June 15, 2005
Beatty board bummed over room tax collections
By RICHARD STEPHENS
The practice of not collecting room tax from government contractors goes back many years, perhaps to 1973, according to some. At that time, motel operators in Beatty assumed the contractors were exempt from the tax, and, in the words of former Burro Inn manager John Bass, "an assumption turned into policy." The Beatty General Improvement District board of trustees, chaired by Brad Hunt, has consulted the Nevada Revised Statutes on the matter, finding that the contractors are not exempt from local taxes unless they have a written agreement with the taxing agency, in this case, Nye County. The county has entered into no such agreement. The town board sent a letter to local motel owners, including a copy of the applicable state law, instructing them to collect the tax, but have not received a positive response. Keith Kearns, who now manages most of the motel rooms in Beatty, said that the Air Force had requested time to allow JAG to research the matter. He was inclined to give them the time. "The contractors pump a lot of money into this town," said Kearns, citing a figure of approximately $3 million in room rates alone. Hunt pressed for an audit of the motels, which he said he was told was "the next step" after sending the letter asking them to collect the tax. This idea was strongly resisted by Bass and Kearns. Board member Kay Handy also questioned the wisdom of an audit, saying it might not be possible to limit it to non-complying businesses and might "open a whole can of worms." Bass said the amount in question - something in the neighborhood of $20,000 - was already known to the county. Some wanted to have the sheriff's office serve citations to businesses that had received the letter and were not collecting the tax. Bert Bertram posed the question, "Which is more important, an audit or collecting the tax?" Everyone agreed that collection of the tax was the real issue. Several questioned the idea of allowing the Air Force to wait to pay the tax while lawyers investigated the issue. Improvement District board member Bobby Marchand said, "I think it is a mistake not to go forward and press the issue, because the government lawyers will sit on it." "You don't have to bargain with these people," said Commissioner Joni Eastley. "It's your ordinance." Peggy Johnson said she had been billing the tax at the Exchange Club Motel since March and the contractors had been paying it. "Monday, I'll set up our billing to collect the 9 percent," said Kearns. The board voted to table the matter on the agenda, which only allowed for voting on the question of asking for an audit, and to put it on the agenda for the next meeting with broader wording that would allow for whatever action the board feels appropriate at that time. "It may be that by that time we'll have voluntary compliance," said Bertram. In other news: • The continuing matter of the abandoned trailer park next to the Beatty Elementary and Middle Schools also drew considerable comment. Eastley said that much of the problem had been "non-existent" communication with the district attorney's office, which had not informed her or the town board about legal problems surrounding the property's ownership. A proposed sale of the property had fallen through, and the owner and his wife had both died. Larry Gray, who lives across the street from the trailer park, was particularly upset at the now two-year delay in getting the nuisance abated. Noting that the board had done what it could, Handy asked if the community should "begin knocking on the DA's door." District Attorney Bob Beckett and Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Ron Kent were singled out for harsh criticism for the perceived lack of action. Eastley said she had hoped to discuss the matter in a closed session at the last commissioners' meeting, but it did not happen when the meeting was halted by a communications outage. She said she hoped the commissioners would get to it at their next meeting. There seemed to be conflicting liability issues for the county. On the one hand, the county cannot move to confiscate or destroy private property without due process. On the other hand, member Mike Lasorsa was of the opinion that, because of its inaction, the county might be held liable if anyone came to harm. There have been two fires at the property in the last three months. "Kids are in and out of there all the time," added Gray. Some suggested that the school district should get involved in the matter because of the property's proximity to the school. • Another agenda item was to prioritize the community's requests for Payments Equal to Taxes money (PETT). The money is paid by the Energy Department for its on-site work at Yucca Mountain. Eastley said that she was going to push for the entire $300,000 to go to phase I of the Bullfrog Mine Site Project. This would provide for refurbishing the water tank on the property and putting in a waterline. These are necessary steps to attract possible industries to the site. Charlie Cook, from the Beatty Economic Development Corporation, said that there was nothing new to report on the handover of the property, other than it had taken place. He thanked Barrick's site manager, Dan Kump, for all his work on the project and for a smooth transition. Cook, Kitty Shubert, Polly Church, and LaMar Walters also received approval from the board to serve on the Beatty Economic Development Corp. board of directors. Walters, who is chairman of the town advisory board, abstained from the vote. • The board approved several expenditures, including $15,675 for a Ford Ranger 4X4 truck to replace the town's aging vehicle. The 4X4 capability is needed throughout the year to access the town's TV and radio translator site. • The board approved up to $2,500 to purchase American flags to be mounted on power poles on the main roads through town on holidays. Members also voted to spend $900 of money earmarked for advertising for Improvement District flyers promoting paintball tournaments. Hunt told the board that there have been four tournaments so far this year, and four more are already scheduled. They are bringing in 24-25 teams at a time. Another $700 will be used for banners, similar to those used to promote the Beatty Centennial, to announce Beatty as the new home of the Hollywood Stuntman Hall of Fame. Operators of the Hall of Fame will be moving their collection into the former Outpost building until their facility can be built. Fundraising is underway on the project. • At the end of the meeting, Bass addressed the audience concerning the purchase of the Exchange Club and the Burro Inn by Ed Ringle. He said that, although there is a lot of "doom and gloom" and talk of monopoly in Beatty, he believes that it will be good for Beatty in the long run. As for the Burro Inn, he said that tearing the restaurant and casino building down was "the best thing that could happen to it," saying he had been battling problems with the building for years. He said that just a day or so before he had been standing with Kearns in the kitchen when they heard a crack and the floor buckled upward. Bass said that, before the sale he could not reveal why no money had been going into the property to fix it up. Now, he said, he could say that it was because the business's Japanese owner had suffered huge losses in a Japanese stock market crash several years ago and, finding himself some $500 million in debt, had been using money from the Burro Inn, which was not a "high priority" to help with his other businesses. Speaking of Ed Ringle and Keith Kearns, he said, "I hope they get rich, because it will be good for Beatty." He also told the audience that Kearns was paying to purchase and install surveillance equipment at the Beatty Museum. |
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