County manager says mall, casino to bring revenue beyond sales tax

Douglas County Manager Dan Holler said Thursday the ongoing sales tax revenue the Beverly Hillbillies casino and adjacent Riverwood shopping mall will produce is far from the only revenue the county will get from those projects.

He said when construction on the two projects begins, the county will start to see sales tax revenue from the construction materials, fixtures and furnishings. He said construction is estimated at nearly $120 million on the hotel/casino portion alone. Riverwood's first phase will total more than 215,000 square feet of retail space but its five-year build-out will also cost more than $100 million. The county will get 2.25 percent of all taxable sales of construction materials delivered within the county.

Also on the one-time list are the building permit fees.

Then there are the water and sewer connection fees - an estimated $1.8 million for phase one and about $5 million through completion.

"From a revenue side it's great," he said.

But Holler said the important numbers are the ongoing revenues rather than the one-time payments. The two projects will produce some of those other than sales taxes as well.

Sewer fees should generate about $122,000 a year for phase one alone. Holler said he can't really estimate ongoing water fees because he doesn't know how much water the mall and hotel/casino will use.

The casino should produce about $160,000 a year through Douglas's per machine/table fee.

And projecting 80 percent occupancy, each of the hotel's planned phases will produce about $52,500 per percent of room tax each year. In Douglas, 1 percent goes for roads, 4 percent for tourism promotion and 5 percent to the county. The total of 10 percent is worth a half-million dollars to the county for each 240-room tower constructed.

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.