RTC OKs $357 million budget, seeking monorail links

      The Regional Transportation Commission voted for the future Thursday, approving a $357 million budget for 1997-98 and asking private developers to ensure any monorail system put on the Strip is open to links with public rail.
      The budget, which increased 30 percent over last year, provides for 33 new buses, $100 million in road projects, and 16 new employees.
      The budget is funded with a share of sales and use taxes and motor vehicle fuel taxes.
      Those present made no comment as commission members voted to send the budget to the state Department of Taxation.
      Conversation picked up, however, during a discussion of Assembly Bill 333, the bill now before the state Senate that would set the stage for a public monorail. Hilton Hotels Corp. also has plans to ask for state approval of a $65 million monorail that would extend the line between Bally's and the MGM Grand to the Las Vegas Hilton and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
      While the commission declined to support a private bill that wasn't completely written, it did ask Hilton representatives not to build in a vacuum.
      "I want you to assure me that the public system will always have the right to connect to private systems," said commission member and Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones.
      "If we don't have absolutely a 100 percent level of connectivity, then we've done a huge disservice to the valley,"said Jones.
      Bob Broadbent, retired aviation chief for Clark County and now a consultant for the private monorail project, assured commission members that Hilton was open to public/private partnerships.
      "I don't think we could build a system without the full support of local government," Broadbent said.
      The commission also has a funding request before the federal government, which will be amended to include just the first phase of the $2 billion master plan passed in January.
      The commission approved an option to build a northern leg of the monorail, starting near Cashman Field, going through downtown Las Vegas, and connecting with Paradise Road and Convention Center Drive.
      The $380 million project will have 10 stations and a ridership of about 92,960 people by 2020.