Deal to reduce county-city tax inequities, lawmaker says

      CARSON CITY -- Sen. Mark James said Thursday he has reached a near compromise with Las Vegas and Clark County officials on a bill to settle property tax inequities in Southern Nevada.
      Under the proposal, Las Vegas residents will receive 25-cent to 30-cent reductions per $100 assessed value on their property tax bills. The reduction is slightly more than half of what James proposed when the enabling bill, Senate Bill 317, was introduced April 18. With the new reduction, owners of $150,000 homes would pay about $120 a year less.
      James, R-Las Vegas, added that residents in Paradise, Winchester, Spring Valley and other unincorporated areas would receive no reduction. The bill had projected a 5-cent per $100 assessed value reduction for them.
      "This will settle a lot of the inequity issue," James said. "The disparity will be greatly reduced."
      Las Vegas officials have complained for years because their residents pay about $150 a year more in property taxes than people who live in similarly valued $130,000 homes in the county.
      James said he expects his Senate Judiciary Committee will have a hearing on the compromise in a couple of weeks. At that time, a package of bills settling other city and county differences will be introduced.
      Randy Walker, deputy Clark County manager, agreed progress has been made on a compromise. But he said the county has a major stumbling block with the city that must be resolved before the compromise is final.
      Clark County wants Las Vegas to vacate Lewis Street to integrate a new jail with its present facility.
      "Lewis Street must be one of the provisions of any agreement," Walker said.
      Without the street access, he said cost of the jail expansion would be $9.5 million higher than necessary.
      Mayor Jan Jones said closing Lewis Street could hurt the city's redevelopment efforts by hampering the flow of traffic in the downtown area. Jones said county officials were asked a year ago to respond to city concerns about the effect of closing the street.
      "No one has shown us that closing the street would not have a negative effect on traffic," Jones added.
      But she said the city will discuss the county's request to resolve the tax-equity question.
      The tax-equity proposal is contained in a bill that sets up a single gaming district for the Las Vegas Valley. Gaming taxes would be distributed to the county and each municipality on a per capita basis. The municipalities in turn would return the revenue to residents by cutting their property taxes. Now most gaming taxes remain in Clark County because it is home of the Strip.
      In the proposal's original form, Clark County would have to give up $36 million a year to equalize property tax rates. But James said the amount of money the county must give up has yet to be determined.