Police ask lawmakers for tax increase

The Las Vegas Valley's top police asked state lawmakers on Tuesday to pass a quarter-cent sales tax increase in Clark County, raising the levy to eight percent, to hire more police officers and continue crime-fighting efforts enabled by the first half of the tax approved four years ago.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie, Henderson Police Chief Jutta Chambers and North Las Vegas Police Chief Joseph Forti told the Senate Taxation Committee that the more than 800 new officers hired under the More Cops sales tax have helped reduce crime across Southern Nevada.

"That is what the voters wanted," said Gillespie, who runs the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. In Gillespie's jurisdiction of Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County, crime has plummeted 27 percent since 2004 due to nearly 600 more officers patrolling the valley's streets, he said.

Chambers said the 93 new officers hired in Henderson led to a 17 percent drop in overall crime from 2006 and 2008, and Forti said that in North Las Vegas, the 86 new officers pushed violent crime down 8 percent and property crime down 10 percent between 2007 and 2008.

While no one testified against the increase, Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, suggested delaying or phasing it in over the next two years because of the dire state economy.

In a separate legislative hearing, a proposal from Assemblyman Joe Hogan, D-Las Vegas, to take more than $400 million in sales taxes from the Southern Nevada Water Authority ran into strong opposition.

Hogan argued that Nevada faces unprecedented financial needs, and the money offers the state a way to cover health care costs, salaries and benefits and education needs.

But SNWA officials told the Assembly Taxation Committee that the revenue, from a quarter-cent sales tax levied in Clark County since 1999, goes to develop water resources and construct wastewater facilities.

Andy Belanger of SNWA said that if the money goes to the state there will be a delay in building a third intake line needed to bring water from Lake Mead to homes in the Las Vegas Valley.