Las Vegas, county clash over annexation moves

A 14-year annexation agreement between the municipalities had allowed county landowners to tie into city infrastructure without paying higher taxes to become a city resident.

That interlocal agreement expired in January, leaving the city with a backlog of 250 parcels subject to an annexation request dating back to 2000.

Las Vegas leaders tentatively approved 23 of those proposals at a City Council recommending committee meeting on Monday, taking the first steps toward planting the city’s flag on over 100 acres of property between Centennial Parkway to West Oakey Boulevard.

The first such request, a 31-acre annexation bid submitted by Texas-based developer D.R. Horton, includes several dozen parcels near Centennial and the 215 Beltway now known as Constellation Estates.

Las Vegas has long required landowners such as Horton to submit an annexation request before tying into the city’s sewer system — the primary residential sewer system operated north of Sahara Avenue.

The terms of the city’s now defunct annexation agreement with Clark County put a hold on processing those requests, effectively permitting landowners to use city sewers while only paying county taxes.

Meanwhile, city sewer fees owed by developers were passed along to unincorporated Clark County residents such as Timothy O’Brien, one of 62 Constellation Estates homeowners who could soon find themselves paying higher city taxes.

O’Brien said he doesn’t mind paying to use city infrastructure, so long as he doesn’t have to pony up for a property tax hike. City officials estimate county residents would have to pay an extra $400 per year on a $200,000 home.

He and 41 of his neighbors have signed a petition opposing Constellation Estates’ annexation, challenging even the legal merits of Las Vegas’ push to fold county land into the city.

O’Brien would like to see the city hold itself to a higher standard of annexation — a “long-form” procedure that would allow a majority of property owners to kill annexation bids before the city can move on parcels in unincorporated areas of the county.

“We see no benefit to us from this,” he said of the proposed annexations. “We’re already paying for city water and city sewer. All we see is our taxes are going to go up.”

Las Vegas, for its part, blamed the city’s earlier annexation agreement for creating a lot of freeloaders — county taxpayers who receive all of the benefits of city services without having to pay all of the costs.

City efforts to put those landowners on the tax rolls won’t earn the city much money, according to Planning Director Tom Perrigo. City officials said they didn’t how much new propoerty tax revenue could come from the annexations.

It would, he said, simply level the playing field.

“There is an advantage to being a county property owner and using city services,” Perrigo said. “Obviously, from the city’s perspective, providing services to those who aren’t paying for them is a bit of a disadvantage.”

County Commissioner Tom Collins came straight from this week’s commission meeting on Wednesday to voice his concerns over the expected flood of city annexations.

Collins, a longtime skeptic of city efforts to grow into unincorporated areas of the county, said the move amounted to nothing less than a violation of “personal property rights.”

The three-term commissioner didn’t deny that future tax revenue is a consideration for both sides of the annexation fight, but said issues surrounding the move go far beyond municipal balance sheets.

“There was a bill, in 2001, that dramatically changed annexation laws,” Collins told City Council members Wednesday. “We all took a ding (on consolidated taxes). … But I’m here to talk to you about people’s property rights.

“What I’d ask you is to recognize that the county safety net provides social services for the entire county and we don’t come to you for an extra check every year.”

Councilman Steve Ross, long a target of Collins’ ire on the topic of annexation, said county constituents simply don’t understand the issue.

“People are being misled and misinformed,” Ross said. “All the (county) people who came down here to speak today — misled and misinformed. … A small portion of their tax base will change, and nothing else.”

City Council members on Wednesday pushed back action on Constellation Estates and two other annexation bids, moving unanimously in favor of County Commissioner Larry Brown’s request to reconsider those items on Dec. 17.

Las Vegas leaders approved the rest of the city’s first batch of 23 annexation requests. They have not yet scheduled hearings for the more than 200 remaining proposals.

Contact James DeHaven at jdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Find him on Twitter: @JamesDeHaven