MARK WAITE / PVT Laurayne Murray, left, and Sheriff Tony DeMeo outline their plans for using sales tax dollars. The county commission, however, axed the whole idea. Advertisement

An angry Pahrump Town Board Chairwoman Laurayne Murray said outside the Bob Ruud Community Center Tuesday the suggestion by Nye County commissioners to create a Pahrump Fire Protection District would mean going back to voters to approve a ballot question.

That could mean more delays for funding emergency services. Murray wasn't available by press time for further comment.

Pahrump Fire Chief Scott Lewis, who hoped to obtain funding for eight or nine more emergency medical technician/firefighters, said he's received a number of phone calls since commissioners rejected the sales tax.

"We believe a tremendous opportunity was missed to better protect not only Pahrump but all the fire districts," Lewis said. "A lot of people worked hard to get this through the legislature, testifying, providing support letters, just a lot of work for it to come down to this and have it fall on deaf ears, especially when the vote of the general public wanted this."

Pahrump Finance Director Michael Sullivan said the town board authorized the hiring of five EMT/firefighters last May in anticipation of the sales tax revenue, but three were eventually hired and only one has completed the training and started work. Sullivan said the department has 28 full-time staff.

The town estimated it would cost $438,000 in the 2008 fiscal year budget to pay for an additional five firefighters in salaries and benefits. The town tax rate of 22.73 cents per $100 of valuation would have to go up to at least 25.93 cents to cover that in lieu of a sales tax increase.

Pahrump this year could have raised $3.08 million in property taxes, but due to the state 3 percent tax cap on revenues, will collect only $2.4 million, Sullivan said.

In early 2005 a Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service task force suggested a levy of 15 cents per $100 of valuation to fund the fire and rescue service.

Commissioner Joni Eastley suggested referring the proposal back to the Pahrump Town Board for a recommendation on placing it on the ballot for a special election.

Lewis said staffing levels haven't increased since the creation of the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service in 1999, while the volume of calls has soared from 2,000 to about 7,000 annually.

Lewis said the opening of Desert View Regional Medical Center in April 2006 has caused the number of ambulance trips to Las Vegas to flatten out a bit.

The Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Task Force estimated 270 ambulance trips were made each month to Las Vegas in 2005 when Pahrump had 32,000 residents. On the fire side, the number of calls were projected to exceed 1,250 in 2004.

The task force sought to decrease ambulance response time to within four minutes of an emergency call. The average response time from Pahrump Fire Station No. 1 was seven minutes, 43 seconds.

"It's not that our staff goes down to two or three people (per shift). It's call volume and duration of some incidents that forces us into a role having to do more with less," Lewis said.

"A private ambulance service isn't an issue because if you have a private ambulance, you're taking away revenues that drive the staffing. It's not as if everything is paid by taxes. It's not," Lewis said.

The task force estimated the 15 cents per $100 property tax levy would amount to $53 for property valued at $100,000.

Lewis said he will be sitting down with the town board to discuss funding options.

"I think, again, it's difficult for this community to sleep at night knowing the answer was right before them and the people that were responsible for them decided otherwise," Lewis said.

Sheriff Tony DeMeo wouldn't have the benefits of revenue from a Pahrump Fire Protection District, under the definitions in the Nevada Revised Statutes.

The population of Pahrump increased since 31 percent since he became sheriff in 2003, DeMeo said.

The crime rate dropped from 35 crimes per 1,000 to 24 per 1,000 due to the programs implemented by the department, and the sheriff said he wants to maintain that progress.

"We're 40 percent below where we should be on manpower in Pahrump Valley. So we have an issue where we have pretty much reached the ability to manage the growth and manage the crime rate," DeMeo said. "I don't think county commissioners want crime to increase."

Deputies are working 12-hour shifts, he said, and then some have to go to court after their shifts.

DeMeo said law enforcement standards suggest Pahrump should have 137 law enforcement personnel, DeMeo said there are 49 officers on the street.

"I had a staff meeting with my area commanders, and they're going to go back to their supervisors. They're going to have a meeting with supervisors to find a way to readjust schedules. There may be some services that may have to be reconsidered that we're providing right now," DeMeo said.

The annual Uniform Crime Report for the Nye County Sheriff's Office shows the number of index crimes went down from 1,265 to 1,090 from 2005 to 2006. That includes crimes like murder, rape, robbery ,burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson. In 2004 there were 1,321 index crimes; in 2003 there were 1,294.

The report lists the sheriff''s office as having in the range of 133 to 141 full-time employees during DeMeo's term.

DeMeo said federal grants for more law enforcement positions are drying up, due to funding for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The only thing we can do is cut back on police visibility in Pahrump Valley. Do you want to turn the valley over to the criminal element when we had made some headway?" DeMeo asked.