Thoughts on three possible county ballot questions

A few weeks back we ran an article about a group of citizens that are in the signature collecting stage of trying to get three referendums on the the ballot this year.

As reported in these pages Jan. 8, a group of Pahrump residents filed a notice of intent with the Nye County Clerk's Office that week, the first step in placing a question on the ballot.

The group wants voters' input on three issues: repealing the 5-cent gas tax approved by the county commission last year, moving the county seat from Tonopah to Pahrump, and repeal of a public safety tax from 2006.

I'm not going to hypothesize on the likelihood of success on any one of the items, or the ability of the group to collect enough signatures (10 percent of county residents who voted in the last general election, i.e. 1,255 voters), or the legality of it all. I just want to discuss my opinion.

Let's start with the gas tax.

I was an unapologetic supporter of the commissioners passing the 5-cent increase last year, which brought the county gas tax to 9 cents per gallon. Implemented this month, the money will raise approximately a badly-needed $1 million annually for county road repairs and maintenance, which are also badly needed.

The group wanting to ask voters to repeal the tax claims the county hasn't specified what specifically the funding will go to, specifically. Like down to which pothole.

That's not really how that works.

The money has to be spent on road projects, on that the county has been clear. The ability to raise the the gas tax, which hadn't been done in nearly 30 years, has been given to the commissioners by state law. Other state laws govern how the money can be spent.

Running government finances is not like managing the books at a retail store or a hamburger stand. There are strict state laws on how money can be collected and spent in government. And how it can be used within funds. Cutting salaries or jobs in one area is not going to provide more money for roads. For better or worse, that's not how government finances work.

Nye County was behind the rest of the state in its gas tax, where most have been at 9 cents for years.

Besides, a big share of the tax burden would be absorbed by tourists and out-of-towners, as 37.9 percent of all gallons sold in Nye County are along the U.S. Highway 95 corridor.

Moving the county seat is a little trickier for me because no one has come forward and shown that it will save money to move the seat, or it will be more cost-efficient to keep it in Tonopah.

Supporters of the move claim having the seat in Tonopah causes higher overhead costs, more opportunities for waste and corruption (because I guess fewer people are watching), less transparency in county affairs (again, I guess because fewer people are watching), difficulty in managing programs and ineffective utilization of county employees.

These are all interesting claims, except for the first two because they don't really have any basis beyond being unsubstantiated claims.

The county claims that no cost will be be saved, but they haven't really backed that up either.

What is really needed is an independent study to review the issue. Of course, I'm not sure who would pay for that at this point.

If the county seat did move to Pahrump, it would be third time the county seat would change. The first county seat was Ione in 1864 before it was moved to Belmont in 1867. Tonopah became the county seat in 1905 when that mining town became a ghost town. Tonopah is down to less than 2,500 residents, according to the 2010 census.

The issue I have to punt on at this time is the desire to repeal the Nye County public safety sales tax passed by voters in 2006. The tax wasn't enacted in 2013 and intended to raise more money for the sheriff and fire departments. It can't cover operational expenses and has to be used for unbudgeted expenditures. Officials however haven't been able to use the collected money as they have been waiting on the district attorney's opinion on its use.

So there it sits.

To review on the possible ballot questions now out gathering signatures: the gas tax increase is needed, but I'd like to see more hard data and less antidotes from both sides on the county seat move issue, and I have no idea on the public safety tax.

I'm not sure any of them will get to your ballot anyway.

Arnold M. Knightly is the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times. Contact him at aknightly@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @knightlygrind