Las Vegas finance staff reports drop in Centennial license-plate revenue; projects five-year surplus if no new awards

Paul Bresnahan, a senior financial analyst with the City of Las Vegas Finance Department, told the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial on Sept. 29 that the commission ended fiscal year 2025 with lower-than-budgeted license-plate revenue and higher program spending.

Bresnahan said, “License plate revenue for the year was $1,724,783.” He also reported interest income of $264,729 and total program expenditures for the year of $2,018,059; general and administrative spending was $222,996.

The presentation gave context for the results. Bresnahan told commissioners the commission’s net assets began the year at $6,400,000 and closed at approximately $6,200,000, a decline he attributed to reduced license-plate sales and several large program awards. He also disclosed a breakdown of administrative spending, including a $180,000 contribution to the City’s general fund, $8,525 paid to the Plaza Hotel for a movie premiere and roughly $9,450 for accounting and legal services. An additional $25,000 was paid to Alliant Insurance Services for liability insurance.

Bresnahan reviewed license-plate history dating to the commission’s inception in 2004 and said the net change in Centennial plate counts has been negative month to month since November, with a decline of about 1.5 percent recently.

He then presented a five-year projection built from these assumptions: plate revenues decline 1.5 percent annually, conservative interest on the cash balance at 4 percent, a 2.5 percent annual growth in contributions to the city, no new program awards, and 2.5 percent growth in legal/accounting/insurance. Under those assumptions, Bresnahan showed a hypothetical cash balance rising from an end-of-year projection of $6.5 million to $7.6 million at the end of the next fiscal year and continuing to grow in subsequent years if no new grants are approved.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the assumptions and controls. Commissioner Bridal thanked finance staff for the report and flagged a budgeting line that should be corrected; Bresnahan said the prior analyst had set one administrative budget line at $1.75 (likely $175,000) and that it should have been $1.80. Commissioners asked who is authorized to sign administrative invoices; Bresnahan said invoices route through the finance department, are signed by departmental approvers and processed through purchasing.

The presentation was informational and required no commission action.

Ending: Commissioners did not vote on budget items; staff said they would provide any requested follow-up answers (for example, the start date of a Raiders subsidy of plates) at a later time.