Schools to see pot proceeds in Henderson
Advisory group devises particulars of plan to steer money to education
A Henderson advisory council will likely recommend a grantlike approach to distribute licensing revenue frommarijuana retailers to schools.
The City Council voted unanimously this month to direct 30percentofthe revenue the city receives from retail marijuana business license fees to schools in the city limits. Council members are asking the city’s Community Education Advisory Board to bring forward proposals for how the money should be distributed among the city’s 39 schools.
“This is a great place to be, and we’re excited about the future,” said Richard Derrick, assistant city manager and chief financial officer who is also a member of the advisory board.
Derrick said the board, created by the state-mandated reorganization of the Clark County School District, will likely work with principals to find out what the needs are. Then, he said, it will probably ask schools to submit applications for specific projects and follow a process similartothe one the city uses to allocate revenue from redevelopment zones to help schools.
While it’s not unusual for a city to earmark money for its schools, Henderson’s plan to use marijuana revenue to bolster local education funding has given this effort a higher profile.
The state marijuana tax was sold to voters before the 2016 election as a way to get more money into schools,
POT
know how to use data in your city hall, what’s the point of using technology to acquire more data?” Garman asked.
Jeff Tumlin, principal for the Nelson/nygaard transportation consulting firm, and Oakland, California’s former acting transportation director, said governments and transportation authorities should put the brakes on the idea that traffic congestion must lead to road-widening projects.
Tumlin said Los Angeles is an example that wider roadways can induce more driving demand.
Still, residents point to more lanes as a fix to their traffic woes, Garman said.
“You have to educate them to know, ‘This isn’t good for you, which is why we don’t want to build it,’ ” he said.
Cutting back on cars can lead to opportunities to convert underused parking facilities into chances for new development. But, Tumlin cautioned, that can eliminate parking revenue that cities rely on.
Las Vegas has a designated Innovation District — where companies can test and develop new technologies — that covers downtown and beyond. The city has been inundated with product pitches from companies, but Cervantes said officials are being choosy about what technology they use to deliver city services.
“We want to identify a problem before looking for the solution,” Cervantes said.
Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @Jamiemunksrj on Twitter.