Reno City Council
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
What Happened
City Council approved the $200 million fiscal year 2017-18 budget in a 6-1 vote after debating competing priorities for room tax dollars and police staffing levels. The 5-hour meeting covered 31 major items including special assessment district rates, capital projects, and staffing additions.
Key Decisions
APPROVED — Fiscal Year 2017-18 budget of $200 million with tax levies and fee schedule — 6-1 vote — Sets city spending and authorizes six new police officers, code enforcement officer, and building inspector for motel inspections.
APPROVED — Redirect $200,000 from City Hall bathroom project to Jackai Park parking lot repairs — Unanimous — Addresses severe potholes at baseball fields where children are falling; bathroom upgrade deferred pending future room tax performance.
APPROVED — Downtown special assessment district rates for Maintenance District and Police District — Unanimous — Maintenance district rate frozen at 0.30573; police district rate decreased to 0.499218 due to increased property valuations.
APPROVED — Retain EDON economic development membership at $100,000 — 4-3 vote — Council disagreed sharply on value; three members wanted to reduce allocation to match Washoe County's $41,000 contribution and redirect funds to police officers.
CONTINUED — TIP (Tourism Improvement Program) funding commitment from council discretionary accounts — No formal vote — Council members verbally committed to donate individual discretionary funds; Council Member Breus objected to mandatory allocation.
CONTINUED — $50,000 arts funding from room tax — Deferred to September-October — Decision delayed pending first-quarter budget performance data.
CONTINUED — Residential Construction Tax project prioritization — Deferred to July — Parks department lacks staffing capacity; staff carrying over half of current projects to next fiscal year.
Debated But Not Resolved
Baseball parking lot rebuild — Full rebuild costs $400,000; council approved $200,000 partial repair but staff noted eight-year deferral means full drainage redesign now necessary. Engineering scope unclear.
Parks staffing — Council wants new parks planner position but source of funding unresolved; deferred pending motel program discussion.
EDON performance — Council Member Becka criticized EDON for providing employer incentives without wage standards; others defended economic development value. City Manager committed to meeting with EDON leadership before any future cuts.
Capital project queue prioritization — Council concerned $200,000 parking lot repair moves ahead of $86 million underway projects and $26 million queued projects; staff to clarify sequencing.
What to Watch
$200,000,000 — Fiscal year 2017-18 total budget — Tax levies and fees
$200,000 — Jackai Park parking lot repairs — Room tax
$110,000 — New sewer fund vehicle — Sewer fund
$100,000 — Virginia Lake path completion — Residential Construction Tax
$75,000 — Robin Hood Park improvements — Residential Construction Tax
Arts funding decision in September — $50,000 allocation depends on room tax performance; will also address Bicentennial Park support.
RCT project decisions in July — Parks capacity crisis: department backlogged with projects, no staff for new initiatives until late summer 2018. Council must decide whether to fund parks planner position or scale back project expectations.
EDON accountability review — City Manager meeting with EDON about job quality and wage standards; agreement will come back to council for formal review.
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