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July 7, 2006
Commission broadens service district planGID WOULD INCLUDE SEWAGE, WATER IMPROVEMENT FUNDING
By MARK WAITE
Certain areas in Pahrump have experienced flooding from heavy rains, mainly those areas near the base of the alluvial fan on the west side of the Spring Mountains. In September 2003, heavy flooding near the Pahrump Valley Winery led to talk of building a dam or a catchment basin. A GID would have the power to levy taxes. Voters would elect a GID board of trustees. While the commissioners are eyeing a GID for water, sewer, flood water and drainage improvements, a GID can be set up for taxing a wide variety of improvements including electricity, rat extermination, fire protection, emergency medical services, FM radio, cemeteries, swimming pools, streets and sidewalks. Members of a GID may borrow money by issuing notes or bonds. The commissioners discussed the item the day before the Pahrump storm water and drainage task force was scheduled to meet and make a final recommendation. Interim County Manager Ron Williams said it looked as if the committee would recommend creation of a GID under Chapter 318 of the Nevada Revised Statutes. Williams said the General Improvement District would extend into Clark County, covering the Wheeler Wash. "We have to get a resolution approved by the Clark County Commission to let us overlay a GID ... into that county," Williams said. The law firm of Swendseid and Stern was hired to assist in doing preliminary work for the ordinance to create the GID, at a fee ranging from $15,000 to $40,000. The fee doesn't include any work for securing bonds. Attorneys said the county could get reimbursement from that investment once the district is established. But Williams warned that legal fees to create the district could add up to $400,000 before it's all over. Property owners within the district would have to be given notice of the creation of the district, an expensive process, Williams said. The district could be created by resolution, or another local government, like the Pahrump town board, could ask the county to create one, he said. A public hearing would have to be held. Commissioners approved the drafting of a service plan, which will include a financial survey and an engineering survey, showing how the proposed services are to be provided and financed. It includes a map of the district boundaries, an estimate of the population in the district and the assessed property values. A description of the facilities to be built will be included in the service plan. The powers of the GID could even reach into northern Nye County, Williams said. "With that district we can wheel water around to serve our county's needs," he said. "It doesn't seem like we have much choice," County Commissioner Joni Eastley said. But she added, "On projects of this magnitude, I really want to hear something from the town of Pahrump." "It's going to take a great deal of money to manage drainage and flood control in Pahrump," Williams said. County Commissioner Candice Trummell said improvements like water and sewer lines in Pahrump are either being done by private firms or not being done at all. She urged county commissioners not to delay "when we're decades behind in providing what we're supposed to provide." "Sewer is something that needs to be desperately addressed in Pahrump," Trummell said. "It wouldn't make sense to lay sewer lines without laying water lines." Lawrence Baker, representing the Nye County Well Owners Association, said he talked to 300 members of his organization who said they would support a local improvement district, not a general improvement district. Baker predicted a "rebellion" and a recall of commissioners voting for a GID. Jim Patel, who said he served on the storm water committee, also protested taxing property owners throughout the valley for improvements in the flood-prone areas. Julene Haworth, government relations specialist for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, said she would encourage the Nye County Commission to focus strictly on storm water and drainage improvements in the GID. The home builders association is a trade organization representing builders of residential construction. A capital improvement plan has already been drafted to address those concerns, Haworth said. Crews digging trenches to control storm water don't need to build sewer lines, she said, admitting Pahrump had drainage problems. Andrew "Butch" Borasky, owner of Borasky Excavating Service and a candidate for the Nye County Commission, said he'd definitely support expanding the GID to include water and sewer improvements. "The groundwater has disappeared at an alarming rate," Borasky said. He recalled how Nye County Hydrologist Tom Buqo was laughed at during a Pahrump Regional Planning Commission meeting when he first tried to discuss the problem years ago. "I think we need to do the whole thing and get it started now," Borasky said. "We're too far behind. It'd be a disservice to this community to sit on our hands and not do anything now." While Trummell agreed on the need for the district, she said she didn't think the county commission was ready to move forward with a general tax on everybody in Pahrump Valley for the storm water and drainage improvements if they weren't inclined to put an impact fee on new construction to pay for those improvements. "Townspeople come to this commission every time it rains and say flood control should be our no. 1 priority," Trummell said. "All of us demand services but we don't want to pay for them," Eastley said. |
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