For almost a full year, Las Vegans held their noses while a law firm investigated the city government's relationship with developer Bill Walters. On Friday, Attorney General George Chanos released a detailed report that confirms what an increasingly cynical public already knows: Las Vegas officials consummated not one, but two potentially illegal deals to enrich a politically connected businessman at taxpayer expense, and tried to do a third.

This inquiry is not tainted by election politics, as Mr. Chanos is not on November's ballot. Nor is it couched in obscure statutes or administrative code. It applied the whole, sordid affair to Nevada's public purpose doctrine, which holds that public property and tax dollars must be used for the public's benefit. It's a simple concept that bears repeating in a community too familiar with political corruption.

"Where actions taken by our elected officials are detrimental to the physical and/or economic well-being of the citizens of this state, it constitutes a violation of the public purpose doctrine," Mr. Chanos said Friday.

The genesis of the probe played out in the late 1990s, when Mr. Walters secured a favorable long-term lease on about 160 acres of city property to construct and operate the Royal Links Golf Club next to a sewage treatment plant. Just before the course opened, Mr. Walters purchased the land outright for $894,000 and was given wastewater credits that allowed him to irrigate his course for about 15 percent of the watering costs accrued by his competitors.

According to the investigative report, Deputy City Attorney Thomas Green wrote a memo in 1999 that pointed out the absurdity of the deal. The sale of the land and the water rebates could be "viewed as the Walters Group receiving the property free from the city, together with additional $900,000 in free water." The City Council approved the sale anyway.

Fast forward to 2005. Mr. Walters wanted a bigger stake in the region's housing boom. But his club, located near Hollywood Boulevard and Sahara Avenue in the northeast valley, carried a deed restriction that required the property to remain a golf course. When he bought the land from the city, planners wanted an odor buffer between the sewage plant and nearby homes and businesses.

No matter. On Nov. 2, 2005, the council moved swiftly to lift the deed restriction and allow Mr. Walters to build 1,200 homes on the site of the golf club. In exchange for the vote, which increased the value of his land between $24 million and $28 million, Mr. Walters agreed to pay the city about $7.2 million. Although no contractual agreement required the city to accept the low-ball offer, and although council members knew allowing homes within 20 feet of the treatment plant would require some $28 million in upgrades to control odors, the council gave him exactly what he wanted.

Then the sewage hit the fan: While the council lined Mr. Walters' pockets, city staff were withholding a Las Vegas police investigation that determined former Public Works Director Richard Goecke cost the city millions of dollars and "did commit acts which were likely criminal in nature" by pushing through the land sale and water rebates for Mr. Walters six years earlier.

Mr. Chanos informed the city he would order an investigation into the deal, and the next day, on Nov. 16, the City Council voided its generosity.

According to the investigative report prepared by the Senn Meulemans law firm, Mr. Goecke "seemed to place the interests of real estate developer Bill Walters above the interests of the City of Las Vegas and its constituents, in breach of the public purpose doctrine."

Moreover, if the City Council reauthorizes the removal of Mr. Walters' deed restriction -- Mayor Oscar Goodman has said he supports such an action -- that too would violate the public purpose doctrine, the report says.

Plenty of players in last year's drama are still on the city payroll. What, exactly, were City Attorney Brad Jerbic and City Manager Doug Selby doing to protect taxpayers? Not much, according to the report. A separate, city-run investigation into their actions wouldn't inspire much confidence.

The shady nature of these machinations overshadows the terrible action the council nearly upheld. Good planning is one of the most important functions of local government. Why on earth would the council want homes built within 20 feet of a sewage treatment plant? On these grounds alone, the council should quash Mr. Walters' hopes of resurrecting this deal.