County Council Chair Sue Marshall urges caution on number and cost of charter amendments

Clark County Council Chair Sue Marshall addressed the Charter Review Commission on March 31, urging caution about the volume and potential fiscal impact of proposed charter amendments.

Identified by commissioners as County Council Chair Sue Marshall, she recommended the commission schedule a work session with finance and audit staff to explore the county’s budget process and the potential fiscal effects of proposed charter changes. She emphasized that the county has limited revenue-raising options and that the county is already facing a structural deficit. "My count for this year is 33," she said, referring to the number of proposed amendments she had tallied.

Marshall flagged specific proposals she believed could have outsized budgetary effects, including any measure that would mandate staffing levels or set supermajority thresholds for taxes. She suggested legal review before placing measures on the ballot to confirm whether proposals fall within the council’s authority and warned that mandating particular budget outcomes could impede the council’s flexibility to respond to changing fiscal conditions.

Marshall also noted that some existing review processes (for example, the development engineering advisory board and audit-oversight mechanisms) already examine certain code or fiscal changes and that committees should consult those bodies where relevant.

She concluded by encouraging selectivity in what the commission advances to ballot so that the expense of multiple ballot measures does not become burdensome in future cycles.