Carson, Lyon and Douglas prepare legislative wish list

Along with a request for $8 million from the state to help pay for the Virginia & Truckee Railway between Carson City and Gold Hill, city officials are armed with a list of requests for state legislators to approve during the 2007 session.

City supervisors will be asked to approve the contents of the list - or suggest changes - during their meeting Thursday.

The city's requests are made with Lyon and Douglas counties. As a group, the Tri-County Legislative Coalition, "has more clout," said Mary Walker of Walker & Associates, a political consultancy based in Minden who is helping the counties compile the list and decide how to approach state officials with each of the 16 requests.

Two ways to obtain more money for long-term medical care costs the counties must pay also are high on the list. One is permission for local officials to add up to 5 cents more above the 3.64 percent property tax increase cap established last year when Assembly Bill 489 became state law.

The other is an option to ask for more funding by creating a "skeleton bill" that will be written later once details are worked out, Walker said.

Also sought to raise more government operating funds are additional reasons allowing a one-quarter-cent sales tax. It is now used for such expenses as the V&T, flood control, and solid waste, water and wastewater facilities, but the counties also want it available for roads, public safety and judicial costs.

Expansion of the 911 funding system to allow inclusion of other communications costs that rural counties - including Carson - need to modernize systems used by emergency workers in-county and between counties also is being requested.

Carson City's proposed charter changes also are included on the list, such as more precise wording about leadership succession and allowing the city's water utility to follow the same laws as water districts.

Other items on the list of interest to Carson officials:

• Retaining Minden Interagency Air Support at its current location at Minden-Tahoe Airport, instead of moving it to Reno Stead Airport, or providing $100,000 to keep services in Minden;

• Ability to designate the responsibilities of government and people using recreational trails that will clearly spell out the liabilities both parties will face;

• Money to treat methamphetamine abuse and educate about dangers associated with the drug's use.

The list needs to be submitted to the state by September. Roughly half of the items on the list are approved by state legislators each session, Walker said.

If you go

What: Carson City Board of Supervisors meeting

When: 8:30 a.m. Thursday

Where: Sierra Room, Carson City Community Center, 851 E William St.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.