With new power, county OKs business fines

Errant businesses could pay as much as $1,000 per day in fines under a rule that Clark County commissioners approved Tuesday with no discussion.

The set of fines would range from $250 to $1,000 a day, depending on the number of code violations and the severity.

Unlike Las Vegas, the county was not allowed to impose fines before. State lawmakers had denied requests in past years to grant the county such authority.

But serious health code violations at local endoscopy clinics became a catalyst for legislators to enable the county to levy fines, county officials said.

The county could have slapped the clinics with stiff fines if the law had allowed it last year, Commissioner Steve Sisolak said.

The fines will give the county another option besides yanking a business or liquor license, said Cara Roberts, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. But the fines should be used to make a business comply with the law and not as a revenue generator, she said.