Voters will decide on increasing two Carson City taxes to pay for roads
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 04/19/2024 - 4:34pm
Thursday evening, Carson City Supervisors approved the language for two ballot questions dealing with an increase in taxes for the specific purpose of fixing local roads.
The first is an increase of 0.25 percent of the Special Purpose Sales Tax. By state law, Carson City is authorized to enact an ordinance imposing a sales tax rate of up to one half of one percent (0.5 percent) for the purposes of maintaining roads among other uses.
Previously, the city enacted a sales tax of 0.25 percent, and if approved by the majority of voters, would increase to 0.5 percent.
Currently, the sales tax in Carson City is 7.60 percent including both state and local taxes. This would increase to 8.1 percent total, which would have Carson City fall between Washoe County’s rate (8.265 percent) and the rate for Storey, Churchill and Nye (7.60).
The second is a supplemental government services tax (GST) which is based on the value of a vehicle registered in Carson City. The ballot measure is proposing a tax of $0.01 on each $1.00 of valuation.
For example, a driver with a $50,000 car will pay $175 the first year, and in year 9 or over with a depreciation rate of 15 percent will pay $26.25 per year.
Sales tax is estimated to generate between $4 million and $4.5 million per year, and the GST is estimated to generate about $2.5 million per year.
According to the staff report, the annual estimated funding deficit for road construction, maintenance and repair is $21 million. Carson City’s annual available budget for road projects is approximately $4.5 million.
“While the proceeds from Sales Tax and GST do not fill the full funding deficit, they represent an over 200 percent increase in the City’s funding for roads and serve as a critical addition to the City's annual budgets,” staff wrote.
Board discussions
Taxes will be used only to construct, maintain or repair local public roads.
Supervisor Maurice White said that he was against the tax being used towards the reconstruction of sidewalks, curbs and gutters.
However, supervisors Stacey Giomi and Curtis Horton said it would be impractical to fix a road without fixing what’s attached to it.
“I don’t see how you fix local roads that abut crumbling concrete and leave the crumbling concrete,” Giomi said. “If we’re going to do that I think we should be upfront that that’s what we’re going to do.”
Giomi said they’ve already stripped out funding for things like street sweeping, signage and snow removal, but in his mind, curbs, gutters and sidewalks are part of the road.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to go down that street and replace every inch of concrete, but you’re going to replace what’s required within the project to maintain your drainage or federal requirements for ADA,” Horton said. “It’s standard to (fix the issues on the cement) and leave the rest, but you cannot completely ignore it.”
Mayor Lori Bagwell said the public wouldn’t be happy if only roads were replaced but the deteriorating sidewalks were left without repairs.
“I think it would be difficult to explain to the public ‘I left your crumbling sidewalk there because I only fixed the asphalt but let everything else crumble,’” Bagwell said.
White said the tax wouldn’t be able to fund everything 100 percent, so everything “extra” needed to be cut away. He said that while other people are complaining about sidewalks, the conversation is around fixing the roads alone.
He went on that the city should find alternative funding for sidewalk, curb and gutter fixes.
“In some instances you might be able to draw on another account but in other words you’re not going to be able to do it and I wouldn’t want to see this project hampered because that funding wasn’t available from another account,” Horton said.
In the end, supervisors unanimously approved the two ballot questions. Next, appointed committees will work to create pros and cons on the ballot measures.
