Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis said he wants a vote scheduled on the next agenda to authorize county staff to adjust impact fees, after a request by Realtor Bob Little under public comment.

Little said planning fees and costly off-site improvements are driving development away from Pahrump.

"I think the county is finding out real quickly that trying to force growth to pay for itself is not working," Little said. "This all originated during a previous time when government was forcing banks to give money to people who could not afford to pay it back. We are all suffering by the economy that was created by that."

Nye County built its budgets on assumptions these revenues will go on forever, and they won't, he said.

Little, who works for Century 21 Aaimheigh, said, "The median household income in Nye County is less than $50,000, which means a median house, affordable house, has to be $125,000 or less.

"The way impact fees are structured, people can't afford to build a house and sell it to someone who will live in Pahrump. We are losing businesses in this valley every day. We are in a recession, near depression, and the only way we are going to get out of this is to grow."

Nye County commissioners enacted Ordinance No. 302 on Aug. 17, 2005, which imposed impact fees in the Pahrump Regional Planning District to pay for the cost of constructing capital improvements attributable to new development.

Impact fees for a single-family, detached home amount to $1,961, including $1,298 for street and highway improvements, $359 for parks and recreation, $167 for fire safety, and $137 for the sheriff's department.

Commercial businesses are taxed on a sliding scale depending on square footage. That ranges from $3.12 per square foot for a business of 25,000 square feet or less, to $1.68 per square foot for a business over 400,000 square feet.

In addition, commissioners last August renewed a $1,600 residential construction tax for the Nye County School District on homes, apartment houses and mobile home lots.

Little's comments were published in a letter to the editor in the Jan. 23 Pahrump Valley Times.

He said businesses have chosen not to locate or expand in Pahrump because banks want a clear and concise plan for repayment, with a return on investment within two to three years, not 10 years.

Businesses can't demonstrate that rate of return due to the "tremendous" cost of off-site improvements, he wrote. He said construction requirements have driven the cost of land to pre-2002 levels.

In his letter, Little went so far as to question the benefit of having a planning and public works department. He suggested using a private company.

* Dr. Michael Reiner didn't have the same kind of luck under public comment, appealing for commissioners to reconsider the lease of Pahrump Medical Center for 50 cents per square foot. Reiner was stopped from speaking by Chairman Joni Eastley at the last Pahrump meeting because he didn't fill out a comment card.

Reiner said an open letter published in the newspaper to residents from Advanced Medical Center was full of spin. He said despite statements that commissioners were in a bind and had to lease that building or they would lose it, commissioners did lease the building to a private entity without due public comment.

"I believe it presents an unfair advantage. I've lost 250 patients per month after that lease incorporated, and I essentially had to close my practice," Reiner said.