Local autonomy

The wisest remark at Wednesday's local government summit came from former assemblywoman and current Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani.

"Be careful what you ask for," she said.

The two issues that drove the most interesting dialogue -- the two topics that have been on the minds of every council and commission since summer -- were the 2009 Legislature's property tax grab from Clark and Washoe counties, and the fact that local governments are powerless to stop state lawmakers from raiding their dwindling coffers again in 2011.

"It's very evident that the state cannot continue to operate on a sales-tax-type government," Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said. "If they're coming after our property taxes, what can we get back?"

The answer for many in attendance was the possibility of home rule.

City councils and county commissions don't have the power to raise or reduce their tax rates or change the state laws that guide many of their bureaucracies. Virtually every local government entity is cutting spending and confronting the likelihood of layoffs if the state's tourist economy doesn't turn around in 2010.

So the cities and counties will dispatch a small army of lobbyists to Carson City in 2011 -- as they have in every recent legislative session -- to beg lawmakers to leave local government revenues alone, and perhaps consider a constitutional amendment to give cities and counties home rule.

Which brings us back to Ms. Giunchigliani's comment.

Southern Nevada local governments have been living high on the hog for the past couple of decades. They've given their public employee unions the keys to the treasury, creating the best-compensated local government workers in America. Those ever-growing personnel costs, coupled with the crippling recession, have left cities and counties essentially insolvent, with no financial flexibility to speak of.

Do the cities and counties really want home rule? Do they want to be able to raise taxes on their own? Do they want to be held directly accountable by voters for driving businesses into another jurisdiction?

We wholeheartedly support home rule for local governments -- as long as they're also relieved of the state's collective bargaining and arbitration laws. Give every government -- and, by extension, the taxpayers -- a fresh start toward more sustainable, accountable services.