Carson joins effort to get finance advisory question on ballot

The Nevada Association of Counties wants to place an advisory question on the November ballot requiring the Legislature to obtain consent from local governments before it can take their revenues or impose unfunded mandates.

The advisory question, as passed unanimously in a resolution by the Carson City Board of Supervisors Thursday, would read:

"Shall the consent of the governing body of the local government be required before the state Legislature can act to decrease revenues or reserves collected by, distributed to, or held by the local government, or impose fees on or mandate new or different services be performed by the local government?"

Supervisors agreed to support NACO's action after Jeff Fontaine, NACO executive director, explained that as a result of actions in the 2007 and 2009 legislative sessions, as well as a special session in 2008, $265 million in county revenues were diverted to the state - all with limited input from local governments.

"It has reached a point where counties are frustrated, and they're concerned about upcoming unfunded mandates," Fontaine said. "The state's shortfall could be as much as 40-50 percent."

NACO hopes to bring a strong voice from the people of Nevada to the Legislature before it takes any actions to divert funds or put unfunded mandates into place, Fontaine said.

"It's only advisory, and we think the Legislature needs to understand what the impacts are," he said.

Some counties might hesitate to lend their support to the move because they have some tax increase proposals on their ballots which will need the ratification of the Legislature. They fear their name attached to the NACO advisory question might be off-putting, he said.

"We all live in this state together, so let's find some common solutions," said Mayor Bob Crowell. "We just want a bigger voice. We're not trying to say we're not part of the state, we just want to be a bigger partner."

Fontaine said this legislative session will include the largest group of freshmen lawmakers in a decade. The question would let them know that although there are some things that have been done certain ways in the past, "voters are saying we don't want you to do that."

Carson City is the first government to see the proposed advisory question. Washoe County will address the issue on Tuesday, and it will be heard on July 6 in Clark County, he said.