Letter: Some questions on Carson's gas taxes

In 1997, the supervisors of Carson City voted for a 5-cent per gallon gasoline tax for the purpose of providing monetary incentive to the Nevada Department of Transportation to build a bypass around the traffic jam that occupies the main street/highway of our town. Did this tax have a duration, any limits? What percentage of the road and what costs were we contracted to pay for?

At what point was/is it supposed to end? Where is the money being accumulated, is it earning interest that is credited to the people of Carson City, and who is accounting for it as it builds or is spent? How much money has gone into the pot? How much has been spent and on what? How much more could be in the pot, in say 10 years?

As Jeff Ackerman has wisely pointed out, half a bypass is an oxymoron. Why did we get into this phasing concept? What defined the start of the project/the tax money flow? Does that flow continue until the last bit of asphalt goes down in Phase 2? Does the tax continue as we watch the construction of I-580?

Can the good people of Carson City go to the polls and vote a moratorium on the tax during the construction hiatus between Phases 1 and 2? Are we doomed to pay the salaries of the planners, indefinitely?

The city is negotiating to assume and/or split additional modification costs with the state. Will the "Multipurpose Path" and landscaping in reality be paid for out of the gas tax revenues, re-labeled as state money? Can/will the maintenance and other negotiated costs to the city be paid for out of the gas tax revenues? Are the drawn-out "path" negotiations, now also being phased, actually a means of drawing out the timeline for the whole tax-tied bypass?

According to Jeff's research, the bypass is already a 30-year project (three-plus with the tax) and approximately another eight years is currently projected. What is the usual source of revenue for the state and city roads programs? At what point could/will Carson City have paid for its own road?

Is this the real targeted completion date? Is any other community in Nevada sur-taxing itself for roads? Could the city have just gone out and hired the construction company, cutting out the middleman/state and those overhead costs?

And, did anyone see this coming?

KAREN ALCORN

Carson City