Mike-
I have been looking for this testimony on the
Trench, ever since last year, when I recalled reading it in one of the history
files on the several bills that Raggio has introduced since 1997. I read this months ago and couldn't recall
in which bill hearing it was testimony-given.
I finally found it.
I think it is the reason you came up with the cost
of the Trench, as being "over 400 million dollars."
As you'll recall, they extended the bond financing
period from 30 years to 40 years. The
statement, below in bold, shows the revenue being generated by the new sales
tax increase would be $11 million a year…times 40 years…, so you can see how
much they were figuring for total Trench Costs, including interest on the bonds.
You may
recall that this bill AB291 was one of
many mentioned on my website at: http://216.82.147.175/laws/index.htm
*************
Funding of Bill 291
(from the History of Bill 291 on the Nevada Legislature's Web Site.)
Grant Simms, Chairman, Washoe County Board of
Commissioners, stated he had been in local government since 1991 and expressed
the effort before the committee, in terms of capital improvement projects and
the consensus they represented, had been an outstanding and important change in
the community. He said the community had really come together in developing
priorities. He noted 12 public and 12 private agencies, including all local
governments, had worked for the past 7 months to develop a priority list of
unfunded infrastructure projects. He mentioned the list had been adopted by the
regional planning governing board.
He
defined the quarter-percent sales tax increase would produce approximately $11
million per year in Washoe County and would enable the region to finance
approximately $110 million in bonds, enough to fund the proposed projects. He
noted, based on 1997 assessed valuations, 17 cents of the ad valorem tax rate
would be required to produce the equivalent resources, which would put some
districts in Washoe County extremely close to the statutory limit of $3.64. He
spoke on behalf of the Washoe County Commission, and expressed the
commissioners overwhelmingly supported the legislation and were prepared to
pursue the tax increase, if given the authorization.
Regards,
Bob$$$