Clark County property tax rate doesn’t budge for 10th year

Clark County anticipates its property tax rate will remain flat for the 10th consecutive year, according to the budget county commissioners unanimously approved Monday.

County commissioners will be asked next month to approve a tax rate of 0.6391 for the 2018 fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2018. That means the owner of a new $300,000 home without abatements would pay the county about $672 in property taxes.

That figure does not include additional property tax rates assessed by entities including the state, local governments, the Metropolitan Police Department and the Clark County School District.

Overall, the county has budgeted to collect $649 million in property taxes next year, about $25.5 million more than budgeted for fiscal 2017. Clark County Manager Yolanda King attributed that increase, about 4.1 percent, to rising property values and new properties being added to the tax rolls.

Still, those revenues are close to $211 million less than the county’s peak in 2009.

The revenues will help fund county operating expenditures totaling close to $1.33 billion, an increase of about $25 million from the current fiscal year.

Under the new budget, the county’s parks and recreation department will receive its first share of operating funds since fiscal year 2010. Approximately $1.7 million will be allocated to the self-funded department.

About half of the operating expenditures will be spent on public safety, Metro and the Clark County Detention Center. It will help Metro hire an additional 47 civilian employees and 67 police officers, allowing the agency to have a ratio of 2 officers for every 1,000 residents it serves, police spokesman Jose Hernandez said.

The county also has budgeted the addition of close to 60 part-time positions to its elections and parks and recreation departments, county spokesman Erik Pappa said. The Clark County Water Reclamation District will also get new employees.

University Medical Center will have funds to hire more than 200 employees to increase its nurse-to-patient ratio and staff new clinics.

During the budget discussion Monday, Commissioner Mary Beth Scow directed staff to compare how much Clark County spends on employee salaries in relation to “similar counties in the U.S.” Her request was spurred by a Review-Journal article last week that showed more than 1,400 county employees made more than $100,000 last year.

Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick expanded the request to also compare the county to local city governments.

“That’s where we’re losing folks, and that’s where the big difference is in some of the pays,” she said. “If you compare us to the city, and I’ve done that in a few departments, we’re way below the market.”

An earlier version of this story misstated when Clark County’s property tax rate will be approved. It is scheduled for a vote in June.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.