Property tax extension would keep funding 800 Las Vegas police officers

State Senate Democratic leaders and Las Vegas-area officials are working together to extend an existing Clark County property tax levy for another 30 years, supporting a program that funds more than 800 officers in the Metropolitan Police Department.

Sen. Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, introduced Senate Bill 451 on Monday to extend the 20 cents per $100 assessed value property tax levy voters approved in 1996. Officials estimate it generates about $158 million annually to fund about 825 Metro officers.

“I spent a lot of time as a gang prosecutor with the Clark County District Attorney’s office,” Cannizzaro said in an interview. “Those prosecutions and those investigations are extremely time intensive. They take a dedicated detective unit in order to be able to conduct the proper investigations into those much bigger, more complex crimes. And if we have to move all of those different investigatory positions into patrol positions just to be able to continue to cover the Las Vegas Valley, I would expect that we would see a significant reduction in LVMPD’s ability to go after some of those more violent, more complex crimes.”

The property tax rate would not change under the bill, and a new levy would expire in June 2057. The Metro property tax accounts for about $310 of a $3,100 tax bill on a $500,000 house, according to Senate staff.

Cannizzaro said the issue was brought to her as a budgetary concern for the department. The levy expires June 30, 2027, but Metro will begin planning for its next budget cycle this calendar year. Metro officials said they would have to budget with a loss of revenue if the bill does not pass.

“Because of the budgeting years, this is a decision that needs to be made now,” Cannizzaro said.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Revenue and Economic Development Committee on Thursday.

“These positions have helped the department achieve the ratio of 2 officers for every 1,000 residents,” Metro said in a statement. “Without these positions, we would see reduced staffing levels and response times. It is imperative to pass the funding now because public budgets are set a year in advance, if not passed then, the 2027 budget would have to take into account the loss of revenue.”

A new public vote is not required to extend the levy, just the approval of the Legislature, Gov. Joe Lombardo, Clark County commissioners and the city of Las Vegas, according to the Legislative Counsel Bureau. But the extension does require a two-thirds majority vote, according to the bill text.

In a statement, Clark County officials said the bill ensures Metro’s funding levels and keeps pace with the community’s growth. Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said it would preserve a tax that voters approved once before.

“This bill does not raise any new revenue or increase rates on property owners, but it does continue an important funding mechanism that voters first approved in 1996,” Berkley said in a statement.

Industry groups, including the Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Resort Association, also said they intend to support the bill.

A spokesperson for Lombardo did not respond to a request for comment by publication time, nor did a spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus, R-Wellington.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.