Plan revises cities’ portion of room tax

For the county's five incorporated cities, this can go easy or it can go hard. Either way, Clark County intends to grab a much larger share of the room tax revenue generated along the Strip.

That was the message sent on Tuesday as commissioners approved an inter-local agreement redrawing the way room tax money is divided among local governments. The money is set aside for parks.

County Chief Financial Officer George Stevens said about 90 percent of local room tax revenue is generated in unincorporated Clark County -- namely at resorts on the Strip -- but the county receives only about 40 percent of the money available. The rest gets divided among Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite, based on population.

Under the new formula, tourism revenue would be doled out based on its point of origin.

To soften the blow, the agreement calls for the cities to continue collecting the same amount of room tax money as they got this year. They also would receive additional revenue, albeit at a reduced rate, as thousands of new hotel rooms open on the Strip in coming years.

For its part, the county has agreed to set aside 25 percent of its room tax revenue for the development of regional park facilities such as the aquatic center at Desert Breeze Park.

First, though, the five cities must sign the agreement, which is the product of roughly 18 months of talks.

"I think we're being kind," Commissioner Tom Collins said. "I hope the cities will come and participate."

If they don't, county officials have threatened to move forward on an ordinance that essentially would cut the cities off from the available room tax money.

The change as outlined in the agreement would be phased in over the next four years and could, by 2012, provide the county with a boost of at least $5 million annually.

The cities also would see more money during that time, just not as much as they would have otherwise.

In Las Vegas' case, the difference is about $2.5 million. Nevada's largest city received about $6.5 million in room tax revenue last year and was projected to receive more than $9.6 million under the population-based formula. That figure drops to about $7.2 million under the point-of-origin method approved by the county Tuesday.