Public commenters urge commission to reject sending supermajority tax amendment (2608) to voters

Lede: Several members of the public told the Clark County Charter Review Commission on July 1 that Amendment 2608, which would require a supermajority of the county council for new county taxes, should not be sent to the voters.

Nut graf: Public commenters argued the amendment would make it politically harder for the county to raise revenue at a moment of fiscal stress. Speakers referenced recent council budget warnings and said the proposed change would undercut the council’s ability to fund public safety and core services.

Body: Jennifer Wendell, who identified herself as a District 4 resident, told commissioners she opposed Amendment 2608 and asked commissioners to “reconsider your support for this amendment ahead of next week’s vote.” She said the amendment’s “negative synergy” with recent council funding requests would make it harder to secure revenue for public safety: “If funding public safety is truly a top priority, implementing a filibuster on county council tax decisions will not achieve that goal.”

Bradley Brham (transcript: Bradley Brham), another public commenter, expanded on the fiscal concerns, urging commissioners to “ground their vote on S22608” in the county’s ongoing structural deficit. Brham summarized presentations to the council and the budget office that warned of service reductions unless additional revenue is found, and he described potential compliance and infrastructure costs he said could total in the hundreds of millions under the Growth Management Act. He concluded: “This is not the moment to weaken the county’s only reliable mechanism or expose it to politically motivated obstruction during a period of acute physical instability.”

The commission did not take a vote on the amendment during the July 1 meeting. Commissioners later discussed procedural options for deferring or holding amendments until after related council action; Secretary Garber said the prosecuting attorney’s office can review proposed ballot language in advance and accommodate later filing dates if necessary.

Ending: The commission’s final hearing and votes are scheduled for July 8; commissioners also adopted a public-comment protocol for that meeting that will affect how members of the public may address each amendment.