LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — New details are emerging to clarify how the City of Las Vegas plans to pay the staggering sum to settle the battle over Badlands.
As we reported earlier this month, Deputy Las Vegas City Manager Sabra Newby was in the hot seat to answer questions from state lawmakers on the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs about the big dollar settlement and its impact on Las Vegas locals.
WATCH: Lawmakers question fallout of Badlands settlement on city employees, community
The city's battle with landowner Yohan Lowie over developing homes on the defunct Badlands golf course began when city council members denied permits, preventing the residential development that the land is zoned for.
Lowie sued and won in every court at every level.
City taxpayers are now paying the price with a $686 million settlement. The city has to pay $286 million of that, while a sale of the land to Lennar Homes will cover the rest.
At Wednesday's meeting, city council members are expected to approve Lennar's tentative map for the Badlands property: a single-family attached and detached residential subdivision with multi-family residential condos for a total of 1,480 units.
The city released this statement Tuesday:
Over the last few years, the City Manager’s Office, with strong support from the Las Vegas City Council, has worked diligently to build up the city’s General Fund Reserves to put the city in a position to better navigate adverse court rulings associated with the Badlands court cases and facilitate a potential settlement.
Currently, the city has negotiated a settlement agreement with the developer of Badlands wherein the city would pay $286 million to settle the cases in lieu of continuing to fight the three remaining cases in court and risk losing them all and then owing at least $405 million but potentially as much as $450 million upon final resolution and sale of any land acquired as part of the cases.
The proposed settlement would involve the city making a $250 million payment sometime between March 20 - May 20, 2025, with the remaining $36 million being paid on or before July 1, 2026.
The city’s plan for payment of the $286 million is as follows:
1) General Fund Reserves / Operational Cost Savings: $112.8 million
2) Liability Fund and Internal Service Fund Reserves: $87.5 million
3) Delayed Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and/or Bond Issue: $49.7 million
4) Sale of Cashman Field Property: $36 million
We asked the city which Capital Improvement projects would be delayed, but the city hasn't fully figured that out yet. Deputy City Manager Newby told state lawmakers some of those paused projects would be parks that would've been built in Las Vegas neighborhoods over the next couple of years.
When we pressed for details on other specific projects, the city said on Tuesday that they're "still exploring a couple of different options wherein delayed CIP projects or a combination of delayed CIP projects and a bond issuance would be used to develop the $49.7 million component of the overall payment plan. We anticipate this option to be finalized during our upcoming City Council FY26 budget workshops scheduled for next month."
As part of the General Fund Reserves/Operational Cost Savings category above, the city says 21 employees have taken part in a "voluntary separation program" and have now retired. As a result, the positions shown below will remain frozen for the remainder of FY25, all of FY26, and all of FY27.
