NORTH LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Early voting returns from the June 2024 primary show that ballot Questions 1 and 2 are garnering strong support among North Las Vegas voters.
According to the Nevada Secretary of State's office, as of the morning of Wednesday, June 12, 79.52% of voters said yes to Question 1, amounting to 16,833 affirmative votes. About 77.81% of voters said yes to Question 2, with 16,477 votes in support of the ballot measure.
Both questions ask the public to reauthorize special property tax rates that have long served as a funding source for city police, fire and public works, according to city and law enforcement leaders.
About 30 years ago, North Las Vegas voters approved these same questions, allowing for those property tax revenues to help fund police, fire and public works. When added together, the special property tax rate approved by voters amounts to 43.5 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation. The money collected from these taxes has been placed in City Funds 268 and 287 and has exclusively been used to improve and equip city streets and parks, as well as the city's fire and police departments.
WATCH: North Las Vegas voters to weight 2 ballot questions concerning public safety, services
Both of these voter-approved taxes sunset after 30 years (the terms of Question 1 expire on June 30, 2025 and the terms of Question 2 expire on June 30, 2027), which is why they're going before voters once again now. If approved by voters, these funds will continue for another three decades under the same terms.
"Question 1 and 2 is huge to the overall safety. The city is growing by leaps and bounds. Every day you see more houses, businesses going up. In order to keep pace with the citizens and the growth, we need to have more police officers, more firefighters, and more parks employees to help with parks," said Loran McAlister, the president of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association.
If the early primary results hold for Questions 1 and 2, North Las Vegas residents will continue to pay the same property tax rate and City Funds 268 and 287 will continue to serve the same purpose they have for the last 30 years. You will continue to pay 23.5 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation to fund streets, parks and fire stations, and you'll continue to pay 20 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation for public safety purposes — in total, 43.5 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation for these collective purposes.
If the majority of voters had said 'no' to both questions, it doesn't necessarily mean your taxes would go down, though. You'll likely still pay the same amount of taxes — the money just may not stay in your community, officials explained.
"Ironically, they will not get a tax decrease. And you might think, 'Well, if I'm paying 'X' and I say no and it goes away, I'll save money.' That is not the case here because of the way our taxes are abated. So really what will happen is, those funds will still be collected in North Las Vegas and be reallocated to other jurisdictions like CCSD, the State of Nevada, other entities that collect taxes in North Las Vegas," explained Ward 3 Councilman Scott Black.
Click here for more in-depth information about ballot Questions 1 and 2 and what they mean for voters and the City of North Las Vegas.
