LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The staggering sum of the settlement in the battle over Badlands continues to raise questions, now at a legislative level.
Now, state lawmakers are questioning the impact on city jobs, projects and property.
When I interviewed the City Manager Mike Janssen in August, we discussed the impending hiring freeze. At the time, they were working on a list of properties the city could sell, and projects they could pause, to help foot the nearly half-billion-dollar bill for Badlands.
We've asked for, and are still waiting on those lists.
On Thursday, state lawmakers started asking questions, too, wanting to know what's on the chopping block and how wide the impact to taxpayers and Las Vegas locals might be.
"We are in a 'maintaining and recovery' mode right now with respect to a case that you might have heard of called the Badlands," Deputy Las Vegas City Manager Sabra Newby told the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs on Thursday. Newby was in the hot seat to answer questions about the big dollar settlement at the latest Nevada legislative session.
The city's battle with landowner Yohan Lowie over developing homes on the defunct Badlands golf course began when council members denied permits, effectively 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 $636 million dollar settlement. The city has to pay $286 million of that, while a sale of the land to Lennar homes for $350 million will cover the rest.
Though no one at the city is slated to lose their job to help offset the settlement cost, a lot of open positions will not be filled. When we reported that in August, Janssen had identified 30 positions that will be left vacant.
"Unfortunately, the positions that are being frozen are things like some of our engineers, some of our planners, some of our administrative assistants," Janssen said, adding that public safety positions won't be affected.
"But all other positions are certainly scrutinized very heavily and most likely going to be frozen," Newby told lawmakers.
The city also gave employees the option for early retirement. Newby said a number of people took that option. We've asked what that number is and are awaiting a response.
Lawmaker Tanya Flanagan, a member of the Assembly's Government Affairs Committee, expressed concern about how the impact will be felt in our communities, asking, "Will there be any cuts to Parks and Recreation? Because I know you do a lot of cultural programming, which is really important to our youth and our families, and I just wanna make sure how it could affect them."
Newby responded that while they're not necessarily looking at cutting any programming, there will be an impact in terms of development. The city will wipe out a number of capital projects, some of which are parks that would've been built in Las Vegas neighborhoods over the next couple of years.
We anticipate learning more from the city next week about what jobs are frozen, what projects will be paused, and how many people have accepted the city's offer to resign or retire early. The open positions will be frozen for two years, but again, there are no planned layoffs.
