White Pine County officials OK tax pact
August 29, 2008 - 9:00 pm
Officials in White Pine County have signed off on an agreement that will compensate the rural county for the Southern Nevada Water Authority's tax-exempt ranching operations there.
The authority will pay $156,400 this year and roughly $45,000 annually after that to offset revenue the county lost when Nevada's largest wholesale water supplier bought more than 23,000 acres there, taking the land off tax rolls.
County Commissioners approved the deal in Ely on Wednesday.
Commissioner Gary Lane said there was some discussion before the vote about one piece of the compensation deal that county officials think is too low by about $20,000.
Lane said commissioners ultimately decided the disagreement warrants further discussion with the authority, but "we didn't feel that should be a deal-breaker."
The authority eventually plans to pump at least 13 billion gallons of groundwater a year from White Pine County's Spring Valley as part of a larger scheme to supply the Las Vegas Valley with water from across Eastern Nevada.
White Pine County remains steadfastly opposed to the project, and Lane said Wednesday's vote does not change that.
"We were very careful about keeping the water issues out of" the agreement, he said.
The initial payment of $156,400 includes $69,500 in property taxes that would have been assessed over the past three years and $76,900 in property transfer taxes that would have come due had a private entity bought the land.
The remaining $10,000 is to cover any sales, use or privilege taxes the county might have collected from private farms or ranches on the property.
Water authority spokesman J.C. Davis said the money for White Pine County will be paid out of the development funds for the pipeline project and will have no impact on water rates in the valley.