Fears about overoptimistic projections for the 2009-10 fiscal year were dismissed by Assistant County Manager and Acting Comptroller Pam Webster Monday as Nye County commissioners adopted the final budget.

The doom and gloom that hung over the previous budget discussions seemed to fade when Webster talked about the revenues from the upcoming federal detention center and net proceeds of mining.

The county will even be able to fund a 4 percent STEP increase normally paid out to county employees, she said.

The budget assumes an increase of $895,000 in sales taxes -- despite a 16 percent drop in taxable sales through February compared to the previous year -- due to the construction of the $80 million federal detention center. Groundbreaking is expected early this coming month.

"They wrote into the development agreement they would pay at least $800,000 per year for property taxes," Webster said of Corrections Corporation of America, the company building the detention center.

County officials anticipate a new Walmart store will also be going up, but sales tax from that construction wasn't factored in the revenues.

Nye County Treasurer Gary Budahl had concerns over the commission budgeting revenues not knowing how secure they would be.

Webster gave assurances CCA would pay local sales tax on construction of the detention center.

"I personally spoke to CCA, and they assured me they would spend $10 million in Nye County," she said.

"I just hope we are not setting ourselves up for failure a year from now," Budahl said.

Nye County expects to receive $11.08 million in consolidated tax payments for the present fiscal year that ends June 30, of which most are sales taxes. That is down from $12.03 million last year. But the county projects consolidated tax revenues will increase to $12.14 million again next year.

Property taxes will increase from $13.17 million last fiscal year to $14.5 million this year to a projected $14.62 million next year, according to county estimates.

The county will receive $449,526 more from the net proceeds of mining in 2009-2010, Webster said, because mines will begin making the payments quarterly this year, starting with the first quarter of 2009. That payment would normally fall into the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Webster said estimates of the net proceeds of mining the last three years have been very low. Gold has been trading at more than $900 per ounce.

But continued reductions in the payment equal to taxes, or PETT, Nye County receives from the U.S. Department of Energy for Yucca Mountain will lead to trimming requests for capital projects.

Commissioner Gary Hollis said Nye County receives 3 percent of the nuclear waste oversight funding. A reduction from the $288 million allocated for 2009 to the $196 million for 2010 means the county PETT funding will drop from $8.6 million to $5.8 million.

"I would say it's going to go even lower than that in 2011," Hollis said.

One of the areas that could be cut is the funding for parks and recreation projects, for which $300,000 traditionally went to Pahrump projects and $300,000 elsewhere in the county.

Nye County is also canceling out $1.03 million from the lease of federal lands, as the state is eyeing geothermal lease money.

Capital projects rated a high priority for PETT funding next year include a Beatty ambulance barn, a Tonopah fire station, sheriff's patrol vehicles, furniture for the courthouse expansion, emergency services pagers and $923,000 in computer equipment.

PETT the federal government pays to Nye County for property normally subject to property tax will go down next year from $2.7 million to $1.7 million Webster said. Part of that will go toward a Secure Our Schools program,

A hiring freeze will continue to be in effect, but county administration will be able to replace someone who is retiring or resigning.

"My personal opinion is the budget is your driving document," Commissioner Joni Eastley said. "You should be able to backfill positions created by attrition."

Requests for additional positions were denied. That includes an additional code compliance officer, an office assistant at the Tonopah planning office, nine deputies, a court bailiff, a deputy clerk, a deputy district attorney and two road maintenance workers.

Sheriff Tony DeMeo hopes he will be able to obtain the nine deputies and a bailiff through a COPS grant offered by the Obama administration.

The only item that will be up for negotiation with the Nye County Employees Association will be a new medical insurance provider, Webster said.

The county should end the fiscal year June 30, 2010, with a $500,000 fund balance and a $500,000 contingency fund, Webster said.