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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Report on fee waivers delayed at Madore’s request

County commissioner wants more information included; document reportedly critical of program

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A much talked about but little seen report will stay that way a little while longer.

The audit of a Clark County program that eliminates fees for the construction of nonresidential buildings won’t be released for another two weeks, at the behest of Republican Commissioner David Madore.

Madore has requested more information be included in the audit, which looks at the effectiveness of the 1-year-old program. Madore, who championed the creation of the waivers in 2013, is spearheading a response to the audit’s findings.

Although the report has yet to be released, sources say it casts a critical eye toward the program. Madore has requested that additional financial data be included in the findings to flesh it out, but it is unclear whether that information will be included as part of the audit or as a response addendum.

Still, Madore said the “real data” will speak for itself.

“Let the truth speak,” Madore said at an Oct. 22 board meeting. “Hopefully, we’ll minimize the opinions and just simply let the data speak. It should be very obvious to us whether we have sustainability or not.”

Auditor Greg Kimsey, also a Republican, said he could not release the draft audit before first allowing the commissioners to respond to the findings.

The commissioners received the draft audit on Oct. 6. They initially had 10 days to respond to it, but the deadline was extended so more information could be included.

Kimsey said the audit now is scheduled to be released Nov. 12, eight days after county elections and roughly three weeks later than expected.

“The delay was put into effect to provide commissioners with enough time to provide a response,” Kimsey said.

While Madore and Kimsey have publicly disagreed on certain political issues as of late — the proposed home rule charter, for one, which Kimsey endorses and Madore opposes — Kimsey said there will not be the appearance of political bias in the final report. He called it an unbiased, professional report that evaluated the program on its merits.

However, Democratic Commissioner Ed Barnes questioned why it had taken an additional two weeks to draft a response to the auditor’s work.

“I’m sure (Madore) wants to question the audit,” he said. “I’m sure (commissioners Madore and Republican Tom Mielke) will dispute what the audit says.”

Approved by a 2-1 vote in June 2013, the county’s fee-waiver program eliminates the traffic and impact fees developers paid on nonresidential construction projects. Commissioners Madore and Mielke voted for it, while former Democratic Commissioner Steve Stuart opposed it.

The program expanded the county’s previous fee holiday by removing job creation requirements for new businesses and eliminating all costs for retail developments.

At the time of its approval, Madore said he expected new taxes from businesses to eventually replace the lost fee revenue.

Kimsey was skeptical of the program from the beginning. He said that while he appreciated the commissioners’ efforts to support the creation of more jobs, the program that was eventually approved lacked metrics to gauge success.

Since the program began through September 2014, the county has waived $1.56 million in fees that would have gone, for example, into the county road fund or paid for other infrastructure.

Kimsey said the final audit will look at the program’s mission, as well as what the county has expended versus what it’s received in return.

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