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Nye County seeks to make first-responder sales tax permanent to preserve staffing and equipment
Summary
Representatives for Nye County urged the Senate committee to remove the 20-year sunset on a county sales tax dedicated to police and fire, saying the roughly $5 million annual revenue funds personnel, equipment and communications; firefighters and sheriff's office warned that losing the revenue would force significant staffing cuts.
Representatives of Nye County and public safety groups told the Nevada Senate Committee on Revenue and Economic Development that Assembly Bill 69 would remove the expiration date on a county sales tax dedicated exclusively to supporting local police and fire services.
Mark Fiorentino, attorney for Nye County, said the county’s dedicated sales tax — originally authorized by the Legislature in 2007 with a 20-year limit — generates roughly $5 million a year and accounts for about 5% of Nye County’s budget. The revenue supports salaries and benefits for first responders, equipment purchases, training, recruitment and communications infrastructure, Fiorentino said.
“Part of the money ... was used to upgrade [communications] systems,” Fiorentino said, describing network and interoperability improvements in remote parts of the county. He told the committee the tax funds capital purchases such as fire engines and police vehicles and said losing the revenue would put staffing and operations at risk.
Public-safety witnesses amplified that message. Scott Lewis, Nye County fire chief (speaking from the airport), said the tax has been a “public safety game changer” for rural Nye County, funding career staff, volunteer systems and equipment to manage large incidents such as lithium-ion battery fires on Highway 95. Todd Inglesby, president of Professional Firefighters Nevada, said the county’s departments are short-staffed already and that cuts could “almost cut our department in half.” Sheriff Joseph McGill said the revenue paid for vehicle and body cameras and other items the county could not otherwise afford.
County officials said losing the revenue would likely result in dozens of layoffs across fire, emergency medical services and sheriff’s offices; Fiorentino and others cited estimates that losing the tax could eliminate roughly 12–18 firefighter positions and about 15 sheriff’s office employees.
There was no recorded opposition in committee testimony; the committee closed the hearing following testimony from county officials and affected agencies.
