Candidates offering a variety of plans to gain tax equity

      Knowing that tax cuts are a sure bet in politics, several candidates for Las Vegas City Council this spring are proposing to lower city property taxes to match county rates.
      Tax equity has been in fashion since the fall, when then-County Commission candidate Lance Malone rallied northwest Las Vegas residents to the cause, helping him upset 12-year commission veteran Paul Christensen.
      Heeding advice from City Councilman Matthew Callister, Malone promised voters of his mostly urban district that he would fight to reduce their property taxes to county levels. City homeowners generally pay $125 more in property taxes than county residents.
      The argument has struck a chord with city voters disturbed that they could be paying higher property taxes than their county neighbors.
      Now Callister, fighting to retain his Ward 4 seat this spring, is using tax disparity as a campaign issue. Last week, Callister's main opponent, water district executive Larry Brown, joined the tax equity fray by offering his own plan to lower city property tax rates.
      Both plans would achieve relative tax parity, but in different ways. Callister wants Clark County essentially to subsidize the tax break, while Brown says City Hall should cut about $19 million from its budget and pass along the savings to residents in the form of lower property taxes.
      "Before we look to the county to bail us out, I'm proposing that the city fix its own problems," Brown said.
      But Callister, who along with Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones first championed tax equity, said the county gets the lion's share of Southern Nevada's tax revenue and should share the wealth with incorporated cities.
      "Property tax equity is a way to offset the pain of growth," Callister said, noting that the county receives nearly four-fifths of $42 million in gaming taxes distributed annually to Southern Nevada governments, even though the city has to accommodate a bigger share of the region's population growth than the county.
      Callister has two tax equity plans. One would save $8 million by merging the city Municipal Court into county Justice Court, and use $5 million in growth-generated tax revenues to buy down property tax rates.
      The plan also would raise taxes for 10,000 "island" residents who live in the county but have been receiving city services. Those homeowners would be asked to pay about $72 more per year for city services.
      Citing opposition to the tax increase, commissioners last month delayed action on this plan, which was drafted after months of private meetings by city and county officials.
      Meanwhile, Callister, who has been criticized for the secret talks, is looking at a backup proposal: redistributing gaming taxes to the city, which in turn would be used for a tax cut. The change would have to be approved by the Nevada Legislature.
      Brown's response last week was this: forget the County Commission or Legislature and make the city reach tax equity on its own. It's an idea shared by County Commissioner Lorraine Hunt, who has long argued that property taxes are higher in the city because it operates less efficiently, or has chosen to provide more services, than the county.
      Brown, on leave as public services director for the Las Vegas Valley Water District, said City Hall should trim about $19 million from its annual $220 million budget and use the money to pay for a property tax cut.
      His plan would:
      --Cut Municipal Court's budget by $8 million. Brown said the court need not be merged into the county to save this amount. He said court officials are auditing their operations and looking for ways to become more efficient, possibly by cutting hours or farming out programs to the private sector.
      --Reduce total city spending by 1.8 percent, or about $4 million. Brown hasn't targeted specific programs. But based on his conversations with city employees, he said the savings are easily achievable.
      --Slash funding for the city's business development and city manager's offices to 1995 levels. The reduction would save about $2.2 million, he said.
      "I'm challenging the city to become more efficient before we go to the county," Brown said.
      Callister said several parts of Brown's plan mirror his own, but welcomed Brown to the tax equity campaign.
      "I'm glad he agrees with what I've been saying all along," Callister said.
      As for the idea of cutting the city's budget, Callister said, "There is certainly fat in all budgets, including the water district's (where Brown works). The real issue is whether (Brown) believes in tax equity by addressing the enormous surpluses in the county budget, as opposed to the difficulty the city has in providing services."
      Along with growth and infrastructure, tax equity has become a big issue not only in the Callister-Brown race, but also in Ward 2, where Councilman Arnie Adamsen is facing three challengers in the May 6 primary.
      One of Adamsen's opponents, retired foreign service officer and accountant Chuck Umnuss, organized a petition drive in the fall for a ballot measure asking city residents if they favored tax equity. To no one's surprise, the measure passed overwhelmingly.
      Umnuss is continuing to push the issue, especially with Las Vegas' senior population, his core constituency.
      "Everybody I talk to, they feel it's a very important issue," Umnuss said.
      Adamsen could not be reached for comment, but recently went on record in support of tax equity. But Umnuss wasn't impressed.
      "My issue is, where has (Adamsen) been for the last 10 years?" Umnuss said.