Kulkin: County will ruin town’s finances, too

With the Nye County Board of Commissioners facing a $3.5 million dollar 2014-15 budget deficit, some town officials wonder how in the world it is qualified to assume the town’s financial responsibilities, too.

That’s the question several town board members pondered this week as the clock continues to wind down on the present independence of the Pahrump Town Board.

Looming still, is the pending decision of the Nevada Supreme Court on whether the town board will remain as a functioning governmental body rather than a powerless advisory board.

When speaking about the fiscal responsibilities of both the town and county, it should be noted that auditor Dan McArthur gave an “A” grade in terms of the overall fiscal health of the town earlier this year.

Under the town’s general fund, the audit showed a positive budget variance for the fiscal year.

McArthur said at the time the fund has remained consistent from last year to this year.

“The town has pretty much operated with a fund balance equivalent to about one year’s worth of expenses and it has continued to be in that same mode so the general fund is in a good position,” he said.

The town’s fiscal soundness when compared to the county’s huge budget shortfall prompted Town Board Chair Harley Kulkin to question whether county officials have the aptitude to keep the town’s budget in order while scrambling to address their own financial woes if the town was also controlled by the county.

“There are things that the people don’t know. When the county first got the PETT (Payment Equal to Taxes) money, it was a lump sum of $55 million dollars to be invested and only the interest was to be spent. They have been nickel and diming it in a way that I don’t think there’s much left of it. People refer to it sometimes as a ‘rainy day fund’ for emergencies that pop up sometimes. They have dipped in their fund and there isn’t much left,” he said.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Butch Borasky returned fire.

Borasky said there are a few town board members that don’t seem to know the differences between the two government entities.

“They really don’t understand that our budget is 10 times or more than what their budget is. They have a real confined area where the county supplies most of the services to them. I think they are mixing apples and oranges in trying to state that the county can’t balance their budget. We have balanced our budget every year that I have been on this board and it’s mandatory by state law,” he said.

The commissioner did acknowledge the county’s shortfall and said measures need to be taken to get the county out of the red.

“That means that we must tighten our belt and our costs keep increasing every year because of our employees and their benefit packages and everything else. The town doesn’t face that as much as we do. They are only a small percentage of what we do and for them to go trying to blow off steam and blame somebody else for something maybe they have done. They’re the ones who got their taxes raised two years in a row,” Borasky said.

Kulkin, meanwhile, also made mention of his renewed efforts to put the issue of incorporation up to the voters again.

He said he would like to see the incorporation question on this year’s general election ballot come November.

If passed, the county would not have the opportunity to also ruin the town’s finances, Kulkin said.

“We are only responsible for the ambulance, cemetery, the parks and fire department but people just refuse to accept that. They don’t understand that the county runs everything. What do they do with all of the money the town gives them for road maintenance? Years ago, they promised to chip seal every road but they stopped funding that a long time ago. Our auditor always compliments the town and we should give thanks to Finance Director Mike Sullivan and Carla Yoder. Our finance people do a very good job and everything is always in order,” he said.