How the public wants to $12M windfall

Nye County held a public workshop on its Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund allotment and there were more than a dozen proposals for how to spend a $12 million federal treasury windfall.

Commissioners will determine which projects will ultimately receive funding through an evaluation process that has been created to address each request.

Commissioners will review and rank proposals on a scale of 0 to 5 using five different evaluation criteria. These center on whether the project will increase safety for county staff and/or the public; if delaying the project will increase risk of noncompliance; whether the project will have a listing impact and be sustainable; if the implementation of the project will improve and/or expand services to Nye County communities; and whether multiple county department/functions will see a positive impact from the project.

The Nye County Finance Department and Nye County Comptroller Helen Bae will perform their own reviews, as will Nye County Risk Manager Jake Skinner.

Of the proposals submitted in time for the workshop, a majority were county department requests.

Maintenance, light-duty shops, signal upgrades

Coming with the highest price tag at $6.8 million was the proposal to fund deferred maintenance projects throughout Nye County over the next three years. Second highest was a request from public works for the design and construction of heavy and light duty shops in both Pahrump and Tonopah, totaling just over $5 million. The Nye County IT Department submitted a proposal for $3.2 million to fund upgrades to the county’s microwave system, which is used to transmit public safety data, 911 calls, emergency dispatch communications and more.

With a large chunk of the funding earmarked for the proposed Nye County Community Center recently reallocated to support a remodel of an existing county facility, Nye County Commissioner Debra Strickland was proposing that $2.4 million of the LATCF funds be used to replace the money that had been shifted.

New county vehicles

A slew of new vehicle requests were on the list of proposals, too, with separate submittals from the Nye County Sheriff’s Department, Nye County District Attorney’s Office, Nye County Public Works, Nye County Facilities Management and Nye County Emergency Management. All together, these vehicle requests come to around $3.7 million.

Facilities management is also asking for $1.18 million to pay for implementation of a county-wide key system and emergency management would like $242,000 for surveillance and breathing apparatus equipment.

Belmont Courthouse renovation

A request for $150,000 to go toward restoration of the Belmont Courthouse was put forward and the Nye County Clerk’s Office is seeking $115,895 for a specialized scanner to scan its books and records, along with a contract for scanning those documents.

Compensation Study, Amargosa FD, Tails of Nye County

Last of the county department requests was a $100,000 proposal to fund a Classification and Compensation Study and Analysis.

Submissions from entities outside of Nye County government included a request for $297,149 from Southern Nye County Search and Rescue to help fund its nonprofit operations, a $250,000 request from the town of Amargosa’s fire department for a quick response vehicle and $120,000 from Tails of Nye County to support low cost spay and neuter programming.

Once the review process is complete, commissioners will be able to prioritize the proposed projects to decide which will be awarded funding and how much that funding amount will be. Details on that meeting will be announced in the coming weeks.

For more on the county’s $12 million Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund allocation, see previous coverage of the topic at pvtimes.com

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com