County gas tax increase begins this month

The first batch of proceeds from the countywide 5-cent gas tax increase will register by the end of the month, officials said.

Although the hike was approved by Nye County commissioners in October, the county didn't start collecting that money until January, Nye County Department of Public Works Director Dave Fanning said at the Regional Transportation Commission meeting on Wednesday.

"So what we wanted to do is make sure that we repeat this again and again just for the sake of the board and for the people that are actually wondering what happened to that gap. That's how the state does the recording and how it gets recorded," Fanning said.

In a move that was criticized by some Pahrump residents, Nye County commissioners raised the gas tax for the first time since 1985 from 4 cents to 9 cents per gallon. The 5-cent increase was approved in October and is expected to put an additional $1.1 million in the road fund coffers, projecting a $1.9 million revenue annually.

"So what we wanted to make sure is that we are going to be watching a batch of revenues that are going through the system and we are actually trying to pay attention to it as closely as we can," he said. "As quickly as we get the information from the state and trying to provide you a report as to what we are seeing for growth and how many miles and how many gallons have been pumped and what the gas prices are."

On Jan. 4, a group of Pahrump residents led by Andy Alberti filed a notice of intent for ballot questions with the Nye County Clerk's Office in an attempt to repeal the 5-cent increase.

The fuel tax dollars must be spent on roads, which is authorized by Nevada Revised Statute 373, but Alberti said officials had never specified how they would use the tax dollars.

During the Wednesday meeting, officials said they hadn't yet figured out what they are going to do with the gas tax proceeds, noting that the decision will be made when they do a budget for the following year.

"It's going to pave the way for us to actually look at what we want to do for the adjusted budget in 2016-2017," Fanning said.

The increase will help the county to keep up with climbing construction rates, Fanning said.

"I know that the board has actually listened to us and I know that the public has actually complained about roads that you guys are trying to fix and there's nothing to fix if you don't have the funding and that's the only fund source that that money comes from to fix those roads," he added.

The county maintains 2,747 miles of roads, including bridges. The county also pays to maintain signage, traffic signals, plowing roads in winter and repair flood damage every summer.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77