DC schools won't profit from new stores either

Douglas County schools will see even less new money from the new Target and Home Depot stores than the county government.

Douglas officials pushed for the redevelopment district just south of the Carson City line as an incentive to get major new retailers to locate in the county. They hoped it would help generate huge amounts of new sales-tax cash.

But state taxation officials confirmed Tuesday that the added sales tax money won't really change what the county government gets each year.

State formulas already guarantee Douglas and nine other small counties in the state more than they put into the local government revenue pot.

The one apparent bright spot was schools, which aren't under the same formula.

But Deputy State Superintendent of Education Doug Thunder and Douglas Schools spokesman Rick Kester said Wednesday the school district won't see more sales tax money either.

"It's a wash," said Thunder. "Every dollar they get more in sales taxes is deducted from the state's (per pupil) guarantee."

That system is designed to make sure every school district has about the same funds to spend on each student no matter where they live.

The schools are shut out of what they would normally get in property tax revenue from the new stores because it takes every dime of extra property tax money to pay for infrastructure within the redevelopment district.

"For 30 years, the only property tax we'll get is the tax off the land value, none of the buildings," he said.

"What we've done is given away property taxes to pay for infrastructure for private developers," Kester said. "That's why we were not in favor of it. It's not good for schools."

Kester said the schools will serve the children of employees drawn to the area by those new stores but won't get more property or sales tax revenue to help cover the cost.