County, city treating local taxpayers like an ATM
Pardon Southern Nevada residents if they wonder whether anyone in local government gives a rat’s behind about protecting the taxpayers. It’s a reasonable question given that Clark County and the city of Las Vegas are apparently competing to see who can squander the most public funds.
On Monday, a judge issued the city another setback in the dispute involving land use and the defunct Badlands golf course. The details are complicated, but the controversy dates back eight years and stems from municipal efforts to prevent the developer who had purchased the property from building on the course, which ran through a luxury neighborhood with several influential residents.
In a series of lawsuits since, judges have ruled that city officials engaged in a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment and are liable for making the landowner whole, a bill that could eventually cost taxpayers in excess of $225 million. The city has resisted repeated wcalls to settle the fiasco and continues to pay an outside law firm — $5.5 million and counting — to pursue this legal dead end.
Meanwhile, over at the Clark County Government Center, county officials are preparing to write a $10 million check to the Justice Department, courtesy of Southern Nevada residents. This healthy chunk of change will end a legal dispute that began after the county gave a sweetheart deal to gambler Billy Walters to develop Bali Hai Golf Club on BLM land on the south Strip. The feds were particularly unhappy that the county leased the property for $100,000 a year, millions below market value.
It’s worth remembering that this is the same local government that became involved in a drawn-out fight with the Review-journal over the accessibility of certain autopsy reports compiled by the coroner. After losing at the state’s highest court, county officials greenlighted numerous ill-fated appeals, and taxpayers were ultimately forced to pay the newspaper’s legal fees, which reached more than $330,000.
The themes that bind these debacles are a virulent brand of bureaucrat arrogance and woefully dismal legal advice from government attorneys. The lawyers who represent the City Council and County Commission too often forget that their actual clients aren’t politicians and staff but the taxpayers who fund the governments that employ them.
That’s something Jeff Dorocak, recently appointed as city attorney of Las Vegas, must keep in mind when it comes to the Badlands case. Pandering to the worst instincts of Mayor Carolyn Goodman and other council members will only put taxpayers at greater financial risk.
Ultimately, however, it will be up to Southern Nevada voters to determine how long they’re willing to tolerate local politicians who treat their constituents as a bottomless bank account established to cover the costs of their own blunders.