North Las Vegas voters to see two property tax measures on the ballot

North Las Vegas residents this summer will decide whether to keep two ‘90s era property tax rates, one that funds law enforcement and another that invests in building parks and rehabilitating roads.

The North Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to add two ballot questions to the June 11 primary election in order to extend two special tax formulas set to expire in the coming years. 

Nevada law requires voter-approved tax measures to sunset after 30 years.  

City Question 1 extends a “special elective” tax formula adopted in 1995 that collects 24 cents per $100 of assessed home value for the city’s “Fund 268,” which is used to build parks and fire stations and maintain streets. The tax, which was reduced to 23.5 cents in 2008, is set to expire June 2025.

City Question 2 involves a tax formula established in 1997 to invest in new police officers and support staff for police departments. It collects 20 cents per $100 for “Fund 287″ and is set to expire June 2027 unless voters approve Question 2.

“Collectively between the two it’s less than $250 per $100,000,” said William Harty, assistant city manager for North Las Vegas. He estimated the taxes accumulate about $40 million a year though he said he was “projecting it to be higher” in the future depending on home values. 

If passed, property tax rates for North Las Vegas residents wouldn’t change, just keep in place the long-established rates.

North Las Vegas City Councilman Isaac Baron questioned whether the city needed to conduct both ballot measures at the same time, especially since funding for one won’t expire for three more years. 

Harty told the council on Wednesday that since larger capital projects funded by the tax can take multiple years to complete, “it’s difficult to plan in the long term” if they aren’t sure about the funding. 

“It’s prudent to know what your funding is going to be before you kick off a multiyear project,” he said.  

The process of doing a ballot measure, Harty added, was also “a time-consuming, expensive process for city staff.”

“Opposed to doing them in pieces, we are proposing to do them together,” he said. 

Though both questions will appear in the upcoming primary election, county officials originally sought last year to hold a special election for the measures before abandoning the idea in November. 

Harty said letting the tax sunset wouldn’t necessarily mean a tax reduction for property owners.

“In most properties they would stay the same but those funds wouldn’t stay in North Las Vegas,” he said. “They would go to other jurisdictions.” 

In a statement Thursday, City Manager Ryann Juden said the investments have been “tremendous” and has gone to upgrading the city’s public safety camera systems and rehabilitating parks and recreational centers. 

“The City of North Las Vegas has been able to invest in our public safety, fire stations and equipment upgrades as well as our roads and parks in the last two decades as a result of these property tax allocations,” he said.