Nye County Commissioners voted 3-2 not to enact a half-cent sales tax increase Tuesday.

Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos joined northern commissioners Joni Eastley and Roberta "Midge" Carver in voting against the measure, which would have raised $2.6 million annually for the Nye County Sheriff's Office and county fire departments.

Eastley and Carver voted originally against putting the question on the Nov. 7, 2006, ballot, where it passed by a slim margin of 17 votes. The Nevada Legislature approved an amendment to a bill authorizing the sales tax increase on the last day of the session June 4.

Carver suggested creating a Pahrump Fire Protection District instead. County Manager Ron Williams said Pahrump would use 82 percent of the revenues collected.

In his summary at the start of the discussion, Williams said, "a lot of the sales tax would be paid by the snowbirds, people from out of town, people passing through town versus going to an improvement district where everyone would have to pay."

Pahrump Town Board Vice-Chairman John McDonald said the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service asked county commissioners to create a fire protection district in early 2005 and it was rejected.

"The sales tax advantage was that it does in fact collect money from all the people that we serve," Pahrump Town Board Chairwoman Laurayne Murray said. A fire protection district would tax property owners who may not live in Pahrump or use those services, she said.

Some strong words flew after the vote.

"Mr. Liakopoulos told me that if he didn't get the lease for the veterans memorial and his wife didn't get the curators job, that even though he knew his district supported this, it was dead in the water if I didn't give him what he wanted. Those were his exact words," a visibly upset Murray said.

Liakopoulos said he merely told Murray he'd look at the sales tax proposal again. Liakopoulos said he ran on a campaign platform opposing the sales tax increase.

Sheriff Tony DeMeo, referring to his deputies, told Commission Chairman Gary Hollis afterwards: "They're busting their chops to make this community safer and (the commissioners) don't appreciate it."

Eastley referred to the value of the medium term loan the county recently took out to pay for equipping fire departments. She continually took speakers to task for referring to the town, namely Pahrump, not the entire county.

McDonald urged commissioners to evaluate statements against the sales tax increase by Round Mountain Gold Corp. He said claims the mine would pay $400,000 more in sales tax for equipment purchases don't compute.

Commissioner Butch Borasky said a half-percent tax increase on purchases of $5.2 million only comes out to $26,000. Lorinda Wichman, a government affairs representative for Round Mountain Gold Corp. and Nye County Commission District I candidate, was in the audience but didn't speak on the record.

McDonald said property tax caps, by state law, will cost the town of Pahrump $678,381 for 2008. But Eastley noted Pahrump doesn't tax property at the maximum tax cap like other Nye County communities do.

"The bill was hard fought up in the legislature, we had a tremendous amount of work done by our lobbyists and representatives from throughout Nye county. The legislature approved it, the voters approved it, and now I request that you approve it as well," Murray told commissioners.

Eastley also mentioned a statement by DeMeo that crime was down 20 percent in the county. DeMeo said the sheriff's department needed the extra manpower to keep Pahrump a safe community.

Eastley then asked, "To keep this a safe community or a safe county?"

DeMeo quoted former New York City Police Chief Wade Bratton, who said, "The best penicillin from crime is cops out on the street."

DeMeo noted the vote was close on the ballot question, but added that a number of states narrowly passed the U.S. Constitution. He said the question passed in the districts of a couple of Pahrump commissioners, as well as rural communities like Ione, Gabbs and Duckwater.

The discussion included how many deputies would serve different communities. DeMeo said a deputy would probably be funded for Tonopah with the revenues, or two deputies for northern Nye County. If one deputy couldn't be hired for Tonopah, DeMeo said there would be at least 2,000 more hours in additional patrol time annually for that area.

"The deputies we have here and EMTs are reaching a point where the community is at risk, even with the outstanding work the men and women on our departments have done," Murray pleaded with commissioners.

"It concerns me greatly, we're sending deputies into situations that are violent, armed situations without a backup. That's just unacceptable. It's unacceptable to me we have situations where we have as few as three EMT/firefighters in the valley and we have four or five calls for fires or accidents," she said.

Johnnie resident Harley Kulkin charged, however, the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service wasn't conserving money. He charged the union was keeping volunteers away and running up overtime. The department has a $1 million balance in the bank, Kulkin said.

Pahrump Fire Chief Scott Lewis didn't publicly address the commission nor answer Kulkin's attacks. Nye County Emergency Services Director Brent Jones, however, heartily endorsed the sales tax increase as a benefit to northern volunteer fire departments as well. Jones said finding volunteers is becoming more difficult.

Pahrump resident Jim Scott, secretary of the Pahrump Veterans Memorial committee, said top applicants for the deputy and EMT/firefighter positions were veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Borasky, in endorsing the proposal, said, "We've been quite lucky not having people burned out. It gets worse and worse as we go along."

Carver, in her opposition, said, "I understand the need for more firefighters. I understand the need for more deputies and I wouldn't want to stand in the way of the safety of the citizens of Nye County. I truly believe there are more avenues for Pahrump to deal with these things. One is the fire protection district for Pahrump."

Eastley said she hasn't heard anybody talk about a "split the baby" decision. County residents made either a for or against argument.

Eastley asked about merely increasing the sales tax less than one-half percent. Williams said that's possible, but under the bill, half the revenues would still have to go to the sheriff and half to fire departments.

"It failed in every precinct in my district. Two of them are in Pahrump," Eastley said of the ballot question. "Then why does the town board not form a special taxing district through which they would make significantly more money?"