Property tax ballot question appeal set for Supreme Court

Conservative think tank Nevada Policy Research Institute lost its case in District Court to strike the question from the November ballot, but it successfully appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, which will hear the appeal at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Regional Justice Center.

The institute filed the lawsuit against several parties, most notably the Clark County School District, which wants the tax increase to produce a maximum of $120 million a year for six years to renovate aging campuses, buy equipment and build schools. The institute alleges the Nevada open meeting law wasn’t followed in putting the question on the ballot and therefore shouldn’t be presented to voters.

“We’re trying to put an issue on the ballot for the people to decide,” the district’s lawyer, Dan Polsenberg, said during the Aug. 20 District Court hearing, arguing the institute shouldn’t make that choice for the public. “I think this case is a sham.”

Judge Valorie Vega ruled in favor of the district at the time, finding that there was no “harm” done.

The institute alleges the open meeting law violation happened June 7 when the Regional Debt Management Commission unanimously approved the ballot question. The institute asserts that public comment wasn’t taken before the vote, as the law requires.

Polsenberg said comment was called for, but audience member Karen Gray, institute researcher and a plaintiff in the case, didn’t respond. He called the case a “manufactured crisis,” noting that Gray did not speak up after the vote when the commission’s chairwoman asked, “Any other comments by the general public?” according to the official audio recording.

But the institute’s lawyers contend that Gray was never asked to speak before the vote. Also, Gray told the commission’s lawyer after the June 7 meeting that she thought there had been an open meeting law violation.

That was the last the commission heard of any concern until the institute filed its complaint 57 days later, just shy of the 60-day limit. Polsenberg and school officials have said this delay was intentional because the commission had a July 16 deadline to get anything on the ballot. If the institute had immediately complained, the ballot question wouldn’t be in danger. The commission could simply vote again.

Polsenberg pointed to this as one more sign of the institute’s motives to thwart the question before it goes to voters.

“We have no problem with the public being allowed to vote,” NPRI President Andy Matthews said after the District Court decision was issued.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at
tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.