Las Vegas stadium financing expected to dominate panel discussion

The Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee has posted four draft recommendations for its final report to Gov. Brian Sandoval, but the most prominent one — on proposed stadium financing — is “pending” and likely will be the meat of the committee’s Thursday afternoon meeting at UNLV.

The 11-member panel meets at 1 p.m. at the Stan Fulton Building on campus.

The committee, which is required to submit recommendations on tourism infrastructure needs to the governor by the end of the month, has been meeting monthly since July 2015 and has stepped up its schedule as the deadline draws near.

Two recommendations the committee is expected to formalize already have been discussed and received unanimous affirmative votes.

In June, the committee voted to recommend that the Nevada Legislature conduct a study on developing additional fuel sources for McCarran International Airport.

Southern Nevada currently relies on a 550-mile pipeline that originates in Colton, California, as its sole source of aviation fuel. Additional onsite storage has been developed, but a short-term disruption to the pipeline or from Southern California refineries to the pipeline could cripple Las Vegas’ air service.

The committee also agreed in July to increase room taxes by 0.5 percentage points to 12.5 percent to finance a $1.4 billion expansion and renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The recommendation includes a $25 million annual cap on tax revenue collections and establishes a board of construction industry professionals to oversee project plans and expenditures.

The first of two recommendations under consideration would authorize the increase of Clark County’s sales tax rate by 0.1 percentage points to 8.25 percent to increase police resources within the resort corridor. The increase would invest $12 million a year to add 82 officers to the 303 officers and 36 detectives currently assigned to the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.

The second recommendation would remove a 2025 sunset provision of existing sales tax legislation for the ongoing retention and equipping of officers in the resort corridor, in effect providing ongoing funding for additional police officers.

The one recommendation missing from the agenda is on a proposed $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat domed football stadium that would house UNLV’s football team, events that are too large for existing Southern Nevada venues and the Oakland Raiders if they receive permission from the National Football League to relocate to Las Vegas.

Stadium developers have pressed to move the issue ahead because of the short timeline in preparing a relocation presentation to NFL owners in January.

Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson, Majestic Realty and the Raiders have narrowed potential stadium sites to two but debate continues on how to finance the project.

The most controversial aspect of the proposal is whether public funds should be used for the project. The developers are seeking $750 million in public money, which would be generated with a 0.88-percentage-point increase in the hotel room tax.

The stadium, which would become a public venue under the direction of a seven-member stadium authority board, would be built with the $750 million in public funds, $650 million from Adelson’s personal fortune and $500 million from the Raiders.

Representatives of Las Vegas Sands have said the stadium developers would walk away from the deal if $750 million in public money is not provided.

Sandoval has said he has no plans to move on the project until he has reviewed the committee’s recommendations. The next step in the process would be the calling of a special session. Sandoval has given no indication if and when that would be.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.