Carson supervisors approve tentative budgets, drainage plan

The Carson City Board of Supervisors approved the city’s fiscal year 2025 tentative budget on Thursday as well as a capital improvement plan after discussion on some big-ticket items.

Approved as part of the budget process were about $2.4 million in supplemental requests to be added before the final budget is adopted in May.

The General Fund for the tentative budget was approximately $128.3 million. Of the $2.4 million in supplemental requests approved, about $1.8 million were for General Fund expenditures including the equivalent of 7.4 employee positions. However, Chief Financial Officer Sheri Russell-Benabou said much of the supplemental requests were to cover inflationary costs in supplies and services. She said because of cost-saving measures undertaken elsewhere, the new 7.4 positions (from an office specialist to a sheriff’s deputy) would cost about $184,000.

“That’s a pretty good deal,” she told supervisors, emphasizing the city budgets conservatively.

In approving an approximately $9.3 million capital improvement budget, the city committed to projects like $1.4 million next fiscal year for the tipping pad at the Carson City Landfill, $1.1 million for vehicle replacements and $2.2 million to city facility needs such as HVAC upgrades.

The capital improvement planning is stretched out for five years, and one big-ticket item on the horizon is the remodel of the Carson City Courthouse, which is currently listed at $20 million for fiscal year 2027 and is complicated by the city needing another justice of the peace if the population hits 60,000. The remodel/expansion of the juvenile detention facility is another priority, and supervisors discussed which should come first. The latter is estimated to cost about $12 million for design and construction.

Supervisor Maurice White wanted the design for the juvenile detention center in the queue this next fiscal year and argued the courthouse could host night court for an additional justice of the peace.

“It’s one thing if a person has a pothole to drive through. It’s another thing if somebody is not happy with the grass they’re playing baseball on. But we’re talking about individuals in our community that are already in a bad place; we don’t need to be putting them somewhere that’s identified as being subpar. This project needs to go now, in my opinion.”

Supervisor Curtis Horton asked Ali Banister, chief of juvenile services, if she could live with the capital improvement schedule, saying the project was important to him but it didn’t make sense to move it forward.

“Yes, we can live with it,” Banister said. “We understand the position the city is in as far as funding, and we are doing the best we can with what we have. Public Works is our best friend because they’re there all the time fixing stuff. Absolutely we can live with it.”

Deputy City Manager Stephanie Hicks said the city is pursuing grants for the juvenile detention center. Mayor Lori Bagwell said the CIP plan prioritizes the project as $1.6 million is budgeted for design in fiscal year 2026, before the courthouse remodel.

After the citywide budget and the CIP plan were approved unanimously, the redevelopment authority budget (about $3.8 million in expenditures) was approved on a 4-1 vote. White voted against the redevelopment budget saying he could no longer support the annual $25,000 contribution to the Nevada Day celebration. Worried about First Amendment rights, he said the organization behind the parade is prohibiting campaigning.

Most supervisors disagreed, not wanting to second guess the Nevada Day Inc. Board of Directors that oversees the parade. Bagwell called the parade a staple of the community and state, and Supervisor Lisa Schuette said, “The parade isn’t about candidates; the parade is about celebrating Nevada.”

• In other action, supervisors unanimously accepted the Southeast Carson City Area Drainage Master Plan and directed staff to pursue funding opportunities, including grants, for half a dozen drainage projects.

One project not included in the plan was located around Bennett Avenue, between Conte Drive and Gentry Lane, about 17 acres that were formerly used as a landfill, according to City Engineer Randall Rice.

White wondered if the old site was contributing to nitrate levels in the area, where extension of city sewer is underway to replace private septic systems. After the hearing, Rice told the Appeal that anecdotal evidence indicated the site was a city landfill from 1950 to 1960. Rice maintained private septic systems were still the most likely culprit for elevated nitrate levels in nearby city wells.