Lawmakers cut funding to two Douglas County operations

A joint session of the Senate and Assembly money committees voted Tuesday to pull the state out of both the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center in Minden and the historic Dangberg Ranch.

Ending the Nevada Division of Forestry involvement in the Minden dispatch center will save more than $441,000 during the coming biennium.

The state owns the building itself and two federal agencies - the bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service - now have offices there. The budget cut assumes those two agencies would remain in the dispatch center.

Staff analysts advised members of Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees the administrative radio traffic now handled by dispatchers in Minden can be efficiently handled by the dispatch center in Elko.

Assemblyman David Bobzien, D-Reno, told the committees he was satisfied the change can be made because, in the event of a fire, the Carson Valley center still could handle dispatch duties for firefighters.

He said the other element is that, when there is a fire in the Tahoe Basin, the primary dispatch duties are handled out of a center in California.

The budget cut means the elimination of three positions in Minden.

In addition, the joint committee voted to end the state lease agreement to operate the Dangberg Ranch historic center and turn the operation over to Douglas County, which owns the property itself.

But the committee agreed to budget $9,231 each year of the biennium to provide maintenance and security for the ranch property and historic collections housed there.

The cut saves the state $87,286 in Fiscal 2012 and $88,260 in Fiscal 2013. Agency officials said Douglas County officials are working on developing a plan to manage the historic site with Friends of Dangberg Ranch.

Parks Division Administrator David Morrow said that organization is "up and running" and he is confident they will be successful in taking over the operation.

The vote was unanimous.e