A newly paved Jacks Valley Road looking south from Alpine View on Aug. 3, 2017. The $4.4 million project was the first conducted after commissioners approved a nickel gas tax and bonded.
The question of how to pay for roads and flood control in Douglas County might hinge on whether four out of five county commissioners are willing to weather controversy to raise the sales tax.
A quarter-cent sales tax that could generate up to $2.9 million a year was one of the options discussed and rejected to pay for the new justice center in 2023.
Douglas merchants currently collect 7.1 percent in sales tax, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation.
A slide presented during Monday’s budget hearing compared Nevada sales tax rates, showing that several counties, inluding neighboring Carson City, have approved a quarter-cent tax for roads or infrastructure, and in some cases, both.
“I love this slide because it shows not only what year they did it, but what law they used,” Chief Financial Officer Kathy Lewis said.
Carson also charges an eighth-cent sales tax for infrastructure. Churchill County charges a quarter-cent each to pay for roads and infrastructure.
County Manager Jenifer Davidson hinted at her state of the county address that there might be an upcoming discussion on taxes related to roads and flood control.
“I think this is a topic for a future county commissioner meeting,” Davidson said on Monday. “There are a lot of reasons we don’t have money for roads. This is one of them.”
Douglas voters approved the quarter-cent Parks, Airport, Library and Seniors tax in 1999 to replace room tax funding taken away by the Legislature.
County commissioners came within a vote of approving a quarter-cent sales tax to fund the Connectivity Plan in 2015, which included road maintenance. Approving the tax requires either a vote of the people or four of the five commissioners to vote in favor.
“If created under these provisions, it is restricted for that particular use,” Davidson said. “If you create a quarter-cent sales tax increase, it would be restricted from other uses.”
While there are a lot of demands on the projected total revenue for the 2025-26 general fund budget of $77.4 million, it does mark a 5.05 percent increase from last year.
One major revision that has yet to be included in the tentative budget is an almost 2 percent lower property tax projection.
Rather than the proposed 8.01 percent, property tax revenues are only expected to rise 6.1 percent next fiscal year, taking a bite out of the projected $41.8 million total.
“Property taxes are a hard one to take a stab at because each home is unique,” Lewis said on Monday. “At this point, new values will be added to the role in July.”
Nevada caps the total tax rate at $3.66 which means that Douglas County is up to the maximum thanks to the towns of Minden and Gardnerville and the Indian Hills, Topaz Ranch Estates and Oliver Park improvement districts. There is also a 3 percent cap on the amount individual residential tax rates can rise per year.