Lyon County benefiting from V&T construction

The construction of the V&T Railway is paying off for Lyon County even though the county, a member of the state commission managing the project, has given nothing to fund the tourist railroad.

Lyon County has received about $30,000 in sales taxes from construction on the latest phase of the railroad, a 4.5-mile section that will run from American Flat in Storey County to outside Mound House in Lyon County, according to sales information from John O'Day, manager for the project contractor, Granite Construction.

Major purchases include concrete, fencing and piping, he said, and have helped finish between half and two-thirds of the section.

About a mile-and-a-half from Gold Hill to the Overman Pit was finished in 2005. The 18-mile railroad, modeled after the original railroad built in 1869 during the Comstock mining boom, is expected to cost at least $55 million and be done around 2011.

The nine-member Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T Railway, which includes representatives from Carson City as well as Storey, Washoe, Lyon and Douglas counties, has about $37 million of the money needed to finish.

Carson City has given $21 million of that, more than all other counties combined. Washoe County has given $250,000. Douglas and Lyon counties have given nothing.

Lyon was part of the initial three-county commission formed with Storey County and Carson in 1993. Washoe and Douglas were added in 2001. County representatives have an equal vote on the commission.

Storey, which has less than one-tenth of the population of Carson, added a quarter-of-a-cent sales tax in the early 1990s that has raised $2 million.

The state, which has three representatives, has given about $2 million. The commission has gotten about $12 million in federal grants.

Larry McPherson, the commissioner from Lyon County, has said he'd like the county to contribute but doesn't think residents have changed their minds since they rejected a sales-tax increase for the project.

The county doesn't have information on how much individual businesses have raised in sales taxes, said Lyon County Comptroller Josh Foli, but he confirmed that sales taxes on materials shipped to Lyon County go to the county.

The Nevada Department of Taxation tracks sales taxes raised by individual businesses, but keeps that information confidential.

John Tyson, a state-appointed V&T commissioner who lives in Storey County, said he'd like all counties on the commission to contribute, but "you can't arm twist them and threaten them."

"If they're serious about getting this finished, they're going to pony up," he said.

Bob Hadfield, chairman of the commission, has said he would support giving Carson City more than one vote on the commission because of how much it has given to the project.

Carson City residents will vote on an advisory question this November that would given an additional $10 million to the project through a sales tax increase.

- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.