City setting spending, economic development goals

Carson City leaders Friday will set their funding goals for the next year. They will also look at ways to make sure the city is economically stable enough to afford its services in the future without increasing its dependence on property taxes.

Carson City supervisors' goals last year included encouraging economic development. Other goals included allotting more money for public safety finding a funding source for storm drainage and the library.

"Goal setting is kind of the beginning of the budget process," Supervisor Jon Plank said. "It's based on those goals that guide us on where we go with the allocation of funds in the next budget."

Supervisors' annual goal setting session is being augmented this year by an economic development workshop at 1:30 p.m. aimed at introducing supervisors to a recent city-sponsored review of the area's economic stability.

"It's important the supervisors and everyone understand how important the economy is. It's the health of the community, the whole region," said Kris Holt, executive director of the Northern Nevada Development Association. "If you don't have the means to do what you want to do, it's not good for (the community's) well-being. The whole key to this is smart development. We want to make sure that we're not a stagnant community. We're enjoying good times right now, but we don't want to be complacent."

Holt is a member of a public/private committee led by City Manager John Berkich which has spent months wrestling with economic issues facing the capital from dwindling land to recruiting top businesses to the area.

"In a nutshell, people need to understand that 'a' affects 'b', which affects 'c', which affects 'a'," Holt said. "'A' is us, the community. 'B' is the politics, the policy makers. 'C' is the economy, and that affects the community. It's great city leaders are stepping up and looking at what their future is."

Supervisor Pete Livermore said when he was elected in 1998, there was a perception that the city had lost Home Depot and Target to Douglas County and that Carson City couldn't compete anymore.

Development in northern Douglas County has pulled vital sales tax dollars out of Carson City and threatens to do more. Target and Home Depot looked at locations in Carson City, but ultimately took up space on Jacks Valley Road, giving them a Carson City address, but sending all their sales tax dollars to Douglas County. With about 40 percent of the city's budget dependent on sales taxes, city supervisors set a goal last year of encouraging and assisting with economic development in an attempt to stabilize the sales tax stream.

Shelly Aldean, vice president project manager for the Glenbrook Company and a member of the city's economic development committee, said with competition from Douglas County, the city needs to decide how it "can be economically viable in the long term."

"(Economic development) is not something government needs to be doing exclusively," Aldean said. "We've seen the development of more public, private partnerships. It's a logical marriage. City government can provide certain incentives, and they have the political ties that might be necessary to help a project along."

Carson City officials took a step toward a more-developer friendly attitude, bending over backwards to bring Costco to Carson. Livermore said using the Costco process more often could be one way the city improves its economic position.

"One of the things a lot of people have congratulated Carson City on is how efficiently and how easily the Costco project went through the system," Livermore said. "Don't you think if you were going to build in Carson City you would like to receive that kind of treatment? Maybe we ought to make that treatment the norm."

Ultimately, the more stable the city's economy, the less the city will have to depend on property taxes, Livermore said.

Plank said the city needs to begin to develop an economic development unit for the city's master plan "to establish where we're going."

"We need to try and anticipate no only the health of the community, but also the revenue we can anticipate in future years," Plank said. "We need to establish the environment that will entice good businesses to Carson."

If you go:

What: Carson City Board of Supervisors goal setting session and economic development workshop

When: Friday, 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Where: the Community Center's Sierra Room, 851 E. William St.