Thoughts and feedback of the Mayor’s 'State of the City' report

Three basic principles of leadership are: to willingly place the needs of others above your own; make decisions for the betterment of the majority, and have the courage and self discipline to stay the course regardless of the consequences.

As an elected official serving Carson City I would like to share my thoughts on the Mayor’s “State of the City” report which gave the status of the City’s financial stability, showed major accomplishments of the past year, and provided an overview of forthcoming projects.

The Mayor’s “State of the City” reported that the unemployment rate is unacceptably high at 9.3%, yet, had any of these unemployed individuals wished to attend it would cost them $20.00 per person. The Chamber put on an excellent event, but the next “State of the City” report should be held at the Community Center during evening hours and at no charge.

The bond ratings and ending year balances, as the Mayor reported, are good though not especially great. This measurement of the City's credit worthiness is very important. It is comparable to your family’s ability to achieve better interest rates and a reflection of how well you manage personal funds and extended debt. The ending year balance represents basically money held in reserve for unforeseen emergencies.

If you purchased your home in 2006 (+/-) the present assessed value of your home is, likely, far below the purchase price, as valuations slumped and are slowly rising. No one can predict the direction the market will take. The predicated 4.4% increase in home values is an assumption and it is just slightly above the 3% increase in scheduled property taxes you pay. Yes, construction of new homes has increase from the previous years but that increase has been modest.

Sales taxes, as the Mayor stated, are increasing and trending higher than budgeted. These are easily tracked and may be attributed to numerous new businesses opening within the community, as the Chamber reports.

I briefly had a conversation with Mr. Steve Neighbors, trustee of the Carson City Nugget Hop and Mae Adams Foundation, during the “State of the City” event. It is amazing the number of projects he has in progress and more-so the number of projects on the horizon. These projects will forever change Carson City.

Regarding the increases in water and sewer rates, they are indeed astoundingly large increases and will continue to climb for the next five years. Based upon those increases, the City was permitted advance bonds for purchase to assure that numerous upgrades are made at those facilities. City staff has already deemed a list of improvements necessary for operation.

That being said, how can we now defer funding to purchase the Empire Golf Course from those bonds? In reality; there may be no other option for the City. They must purchase it, due to the fact that effluent water disposal rights are attached to the property. Failure to obtain Empire Golf Course could, in all likelihood, cause a major obstacle to disposal of effluent water from the sewer facility.

Regionally shared services are remarkably successful, and an economically benefit for Carson City and should further help us become more effective. This has been moved forward by the Mayor and that of staffs’ ability to work for the greater needs of the community. Collaboration is contagious. It takes dedication and energy, but, luckily, our Mayor has both. Rumor has it he can dance pretty well too, we shall see at “Dancing with Stars” on February 22nd.

The premise of single stream waste disposal and recycling will be unattainable for years but it’s an idea we should definitely embrace and pursue. However, just a few years ago approximately 2 million dollars was moved from the landfill budget to the general budget. If there are informal discussions in progress regarding this, Board members should be involved and with other such projects as well. Then we can provide some type of regular updates to the public as to the progress of these numerous projects, while they are evolving.

Regarding the use of the sales taxes was not originally brought to the attention of the Board by the 20/20 Group. This is a volunteer citizen group advocating for the Downtown corridor improvement project. In a meeting with this group I specifically asked how the 1/8 of a cent sale tax had been initiated as the means of funding of these projects. They told me it came from our previous City Manager. They went on to say they never actually met with the previous City Manager. They only met with City staff. Most surprising to me is that City staff never discussed this issue, to my knowledge, with any Board member. How is it that the former City Manager drafted an agenda item that will increase taxes, and the Board was never consulted?

Regarding the recent community meetings held by City staff, these were scheduled at my recommendation and was fully supported by the Board. I greatly appreciate staff’s ability to hold meetings and continually work with the community to inform them of what each project encompasses. Staff printed materials and delivered them to businesses in person within the downtown corridor. To my knowledge – I don’t recall seeing an advertisement to attend the community meetings in our local paper.

Many of our citizens are fully aware that I have personally been walking neighborhoods distributing notification of this pending sales tax increase asking for input and the responses have been numerous. At times, my voice mail and email have both been filled to capacity.

Citizens need to trust the direction the Board chooses is for the good of the majority and not just for special interest groups. A decision made by a Board member should not be made or altered for fear of reprisals or a recall. It is the sole responsibility of leaders to lead and have the courage to do so.

Leadership is not based on telling others what they want to hear but rather, what really needs to be heard.

— Jim Shirk, Carson City Board of Supervisor, Ward 4