Former Carson City Sheriff Paul McGrath has organized a Saturday public meeting to put a petition before the Board of Supervisors to stop what he says is improper use of gas tax money by the public works department and RTC.
McGrath has argued for more than two years the Regional Transportation Commission is violating the terms of the deal made that imposed a nickel gas tax on Carson residents to help pay for the bypass freeway.
He said using some of that money to mitigate issues ranging from traffic disruption to flooding caused by the bypass project is appropriate but RTC has been using the cash for other, unrelated projects well outside the area impacted by the construction.
“They’re diverting tax dollars for something other than what it was supposed to be used for,” he said. “They’re using it everywhere in town, not just on the freeway and freeway disruption.”
He has arranged a public meeting Saturday at the sheriff’s office Ormsby Room from 9 a.m. to noon for those interested in signing the petition he plans to present to the Board of Supervisors.
He said south Carson residents have all been told about the meeting and many of them are tired of the condition of their streets and other problems caused by the bypass project.
“They (supervisors) may not act on it but there’s going to be enough information in there that the citizens of Carson are going to figure out something’s going wrong,” McGrath said.