Las Vegas room-tax revenue soars to record levels

Room-tax revenue, the primary source of income for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, climbed to record levels in the 2014 fiscal year giving the agency the happy task of figuring out what to do with a cash windfall.

The Convention and Visitors Authority board’s four-member audit committee agreed Wednesday to recommend augmenting the agency’s $285.4 million budget by $27 million, which resulted from boosts in room tax revenue and facility rental charges. The agency also didn’t spend its entire 2014 budget allotment and part of the excess will be carried over as part of the 2015 augmentation.

The full board is expected to consider the budget increase at Thursday’s meeting.

The augmentation matter was part of an audit of the board’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Auditor L. Ralph Piercy of Piercy Bowler Taylor & Kern had nothing but glowing remarks to offer on the audit and the agency staff that provided information to complete the report.

“I wish all my clients had that kind of staff,” Piercy said when asked for his remarks on the audit report.

Piercy said he found no financial reporting issues in the audit.

Rana Lacer, senior vice president of finance for the LVCVA, said room tax receipts hit $222.7 million in the 2014 fiscal year, $2 million more than the previous high recorded in the 2008 fiscal year. But the amount that flows to the agency was reduced in 2009 when the Nevada Legislature directed that about $20 million a year go to the Nevada Transportation Department to bond for road projects benefiting tourism.

Lacer said receipts were up as a result of the city’s record room inventory, high visitation and occupancy rates and improving average daily room rates.

Of the $27 million being added to the budget, $20.5 million would go to the capital funds budget and be applied to land acquisitions and other improvements for the proposed Las Vegas Global Business District project, the $2.3 billion overhaul of the Las Vegas Convention Center campus.

Lacer also identified an additional $3.1 million for advertising, offsetting a $2 million decline in that category in the initial budget, and $1.6 million for additional marketing.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta