64°F
weather icon Partly Cloudy

Ballot questions focus on financial issues

Boulder City residents will be asked to weigh in on several local issues at the polls Nov. 6, including whether the city should purchase a new fire engine, refinance its debt, restructure use of its enterprise fund and issue bonds to finance a major remodeling of the library.

Three of the ballot questions are from the city and the fourth is from Boulder City Library.

Boulder City ballot Question 1 asks whether the city shall spend up to $750,000 from the capital improvement fund, as money become available, to purchase a new fire engine.

The city’s charter requires that all expenditures from the fund be approved by a simple majority of the votes cast by registered voters in town. A “yes” vote will allow the city to spend up to $750,000 and a “no” vote will prevent the city from spending the money.

Boulder City Ballot Question 1 by Boulder City Review on Scribd

Question 2 would allow the city to refinance debt in order to reduce interest costs without voter approval or modify or remove contractual limitations for existing debt.

According to city code, Boulder City cannot incur any new debt of $1 million or more without voter approval and the city’s bond counsel considers refinancing existing debt as new debt.

A “yes” vote would allow the city to save money but not remove the voters’ power to limit new spending and debt incurred by the city.

A “no” vote would keep the city’s ability to refinance debt as it is.

Boulder City Ballot Question 2 by Boulder City Review on Scribd

Question 3 would amend section 136 of the city charter to allow the City Council to establish a separate department to administer the city’s utilities, including privately owned and operated ones and municipal ones. The department would keep separate financial records for each municipally owned utility as well as prepare a comprehensive report for the city manager prior to Feb. 1 of each fiscal year.

The department or its officer would also attempt to make each utility financially self-sustaining unless, by ordinance, the City Council adopts a different policy. The council may spend each municipally owned and operated utility’s net profits for general municipal purposes in accordance with state law.

A “yes” vote would allow the proposed charter amendment to be placed on the June general election ballot for final approval, and a “no” vote would leave the charter unchanged and inconsistent with state law.

Boulder City Ballot Question 3 by Boulder City Review on Scribd

The ballot question for the Boulder City Library District asks whether the Board of Clark County Commissioners be authorized to issue as much as $10.5 million in general obligation bonds to the district to renovate and expand its library building, property and services.

The bonds are expected to increase property taxes. It is estimated that someone who owns a $100,000 home would pay $42 more per year. If approved, this increase would be in addition to other property tax increases levied throughout the state.

A “yes” vote would allow the commissioners to issue the bonds with the resulting tax increase, and a “no” vote would not.

Boulder City Library District Ballot Question by Boulder City Review on Scribd

Early voting for the Nov. 6 election starts Oct. 20 in Clark County and goes through Friday, Nov. 2. Registered voters can vote any location in the county. In Boulder City, early voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 29-31 at Boulder City Hall, 401 California Ave..

For a complete list of early voting locations and times, visit http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/election/Documents/2018/EVSched-SamBal-18G.pdf.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
BC repaint: Countdown is on

It’s almost time to don that old pair of jeans, the ratty tennis shoes in the back of your closet and a shirt you’re not worried about ruining.

Management of veterans’ home sparks controversy

Documents provided to the Boulder City Review by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) appear to back up many of the accusations leveled at the Nevada Department of Veterans Services (NDVS) and leadership of the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home which is located in Boulder City by current and former employees over the past year. Many of the same issues were also noted by CMS surveyors in an inspection of the home that occurred in January.

Spending for proposed pool to be on Nov. ballot

During Tuesday’s Boulder City Council meeting, City Manager Taylour Tedder may have summed things up best.

Historic preservation event set for May

It’s a couple of months away, but scheduling for events tied to Historic Preservation Day — slated for May 11 —are pretty set and revolve around the theme of Trains, Planes and Automobiles.

Slow and steady

For Nevadans at the forefront of the West’s water crisis, snowpack in the Rocky Mountains that eventually trickles down to Lake Mead is always front of mind.

Hunt expected to draw hundreds

For the second year in a row, the city of Boulder City is sponsoring the annual Community Easter Egg Hunt with a little extra help from a friend – the Easter Bunny.

Longtime judge/justice of the peace to retire

If you get arrested in or around Boulder City and have to appear before a judge, that may mean — depending on the offense, the arresting agency and exactly where the arrest happened —that you are in front of the Boulder City municipal judge or the justice of the peace for the Boulder Township of Clark County.

And… We have a primary

It’s official. As of Tuesday evening, five people had filed paperwork to run for city council.

Wait. The museum has WHAT in it’s collection?

It was a presentation about the activities and impact of the Boulder City Museum with lots of info and plans and numbers. But most people who saw it will remember it most for the discussion of some of the museum’s more, hmmm, unusual items that are part of the collection.