Carson City Supervisors to discuss funding for neighborhood streets during first 2026 meeting

A sales tax originally passed two decades ago to reconstruct the historic V&T Railway is set to be permanently redirected toward fixing Carson City’s neighborhood streets under a plan supervisors will consider Tuesday.

With the final payment made on the V&T Historical Refunding Bonds on Dec. 1, 2025, the city is legally required to determine if a “necessity exists” to continue the one-eighth of one percent (0.125%) infrastructure sales tax.

City staff is recommending the board keep the tax in place but shift its revenue entirely to “Project D,” a new designation for the preservation and rehabilitation of local, functional-class roads.

If approved, the move would secure an estimated $2.1 million to $2.5 million annually for neighborhood street maintenance beginning July 1, 2026. Additionally, the board’s action would free up approximately $1 million in accumulated bond reserves that are no longer needed for debt service, allowing those funds to be applied immediately to roadwork.

“The use of the V&T Infrastructure Sales Tax was previously discussed as a local road funding option during public workshops,” staff noted in their report, citing a “shortfall in funding for local roads.”

Unlike previous infrastructure projects that focused on regional arterials, “Project D” specifically targets the city’s approximately 203 centerline miles of local roadways. The selection of specific streets for repair will follow the city’s Pavement Management Plan, which divides the city into five geographic performance districts. Under this plan, crews rotate through one district per year on a five-year cycle to maximize efficiency.

The funding would cover a wide range of treatments, from preventive maintenance like crack sealing and pothole filling to surface preservation techniques such as slurry seals and chip seals. In areas with severe decay, the funds would support full-depth roadway reconstruction.

As part of the transition, the supervisors are also scheduled to vote on an ordinance renaming the “V&T Special Infrastructure Fund” to the “Street and Highway Infrastructure Fund” to reflect the tax’s new purpose.

 The Supervisors will consider a $2.29 million purchase and sale agreement with Vidler Water Company, Inc. to acquire approximately 915 acre-feet of water rights annually for the Buzzy’s Ranch Open Space.

The city originally acquired the land for Buzzy’s Ranch between 2007 and 2010 using State Question 1 and Quality of Life funds, but lacked the budget at the time to purchase the associated water rights. To ensure the pastures remained irrigated in the interim, the city entered into an agreement allowing the original sellers to continue using the land so long as they maintained ownership of the water rights and applied them to the property.

Securing these rights permanently is considered essential to preserving the “ranching history in Eagle Valley” and maintaining the aesthetics of green, irrigated pastures.

According to city staff, this $2.29 million purchase from Vidler Water Company represents approximately one-third of the total water rights ultimately needed to fully support the ranch’s operations

The board will discuss a memorandum of understanding with the Carson City Fire Fighters Association to incorporate a new “Non-Suppression Paramedic” position into the collective bargaining agreement.

These new single-role positions are designed to staff an ambulance during peak call hours—identified as 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.—without requiring firefighting duties. The initial schedule for these employees would be four 10-hour shifts, Tuesday through Friday.

The board will consider granting an easement to NV Energy at the Public Works corporate yard.

The utility plans to construct solar carports and battery storage systems at the employee parking lot at no cost to the city as part of its Community-Based Solar Resource program.

Supervisors will review the annual Master Plan report and consider a resolution initiating several amendments to the city’s land use map.

Proposed changes include correcting land use designations for properties on Lompa Lane and Lepire Drive, and removing the area south of Musser Street and east of Stewart Street from the “Downtown Character Areas Map” at the request of the State Public Works Division.

Land Use Corrections: Three specific parcels are slated for map revisions to reflect their actual or intended use:

• 3000 Lompa Lane: The Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Community property currently holds a split designation of Industrial and Public/Quasi-Public. The amendment would unify the entire parcel under the Public/Quasi-Public designation.
• 4015 Lepire Drive: This privately owned residential property is erroneously designated as Public/Quasi-Public. The board will consider changing it to High Density Residential to match the surrounding neighborhood.
• Pilot Peak Court Drainage: A parcel south of Pilot Peak Court acquired by the city in 2025 for a drainage channel, is currently zoned Medium Density Residential. The amendment would redesignate it as Open Space.

Lompa North Traffic Standards: The board will consider deleting specific conditions within the Lompa North Specific Plan that tie traffic improvements to “unit counts.” City staff recommends shifting the metric to “level of service,” a standard practice for determining traffic mitigation needs. This change would involve removing Condition 57b from the 2017 Conditions of Approval and deleting the “Gold Dust Way Connection Alternative” section from the development handbook.

State Complex Adjustments: The State Public Works Division has requested that the area south of Musser Street and east of Stewart Street be removed from the “Downtown Character Areas Map.” State officials cited conflicts between the city’s downtown design policies and the security requirements necessary for state government buildings.

Additionally, the amendment would modify Master Plan Policy 6.3b to align with Nevada Revised Statute 278.580, clarifying that while state property is generally subject to local zoning, exceptions exist for the expansion of activities that were present before April 1971.

If the supervisors vote to initiate these amendments Tuesday, a public hearing will be scheduled before the Planning Commission on Jan. 28, 2026, with a final determination by the Board of Supervisors anticipated by early March.

Several seats on city commissions are up for appointment or reappointment. The applicants submitted for consideration are as follows:

• Parks and Recreation Commission (Three 4-year terms): Incumbent Kurt Meyer has applied for reappointment. New applicants include Bernard Ray, Jaina Moan, and James Feser.
• Planning Commission (Two 4-year terms): Incumbent Charles Borders is recommended for reappointment as the Mayor’s nominee. For the citizen-at-large position, incumbent Theresa “Teri” Green-Preston has applied for reappointment, and Gregory Stedfield has submitted a new application.
• Cultural Commission (One 3-year term): Samuel Flakus has applied for reappointment.

Additionally, the board will assign its own members to various regional boards and committees for 2026, including the Regional Transportation Commission, the Audit Committee and the Redevelopment Committee.