County officials ask NDOT to list projects backed by fuel tax
The Clark County Commission on Tuesday followed the lead of local transit officials in asking the Nevada Department of Transportation to present a list of projects that are specifically funded by money from the voter-approved fuel revenue indexing tax.
Despite an NDOT presentation showing how transportation funds are dispersed statewide, several county commissioners wanted to see a breakdown of where the money is coming from.
Officials said they want to make sure Clark County is getting its “fair share” of state money on top of a local fuel revenue indexing tax expected to generate $3 billion over the next decade.
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada’s board of directors, which administers the fuel revenue indexing tax money, made a similar request of NDOT last week.
“I’m either going to become your new best friend or your worst enemy because I’m following the money now,” Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick told NDOT Director Rudy Malfabon following his budget presentation Tuesday.
“As the (fuel revenue indexing) is coming out, people want to know what they’re going to get,” Kirkpatrick said. “I honestly cannot tell them what they got so far.”
County and RTC officials have raised concerns that the transportation department has delayed several local projects in favor of road improvements elsewhere, including the fast-tracking of an environmental review to reconfigure Reno’s version of the Spaghetti Bowl interchange at Interstates 80 and 580.
Even though roughly two-thirds of Nevada’s population lives in Clark County, about 66 percent of the state’s $2.67 billion in transportation funds were spent here between the 2013 and 2017 fiscal years, Malfabon said during his presentation.
About 9 percent of NDOT funds were set aside during that time for Washoe County, which makes up more than 15 percent of Nevada’s population, while the state’s urban areas were allocated 26 percent, Malfabon said.
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.
