The Southern Nevada Health District filed a second complaint in court Friday against Clark County and the Clark County Commission, charging commissioners failed to provide $15.9 million in required funding for the coming budget year.
A petition for “writs of mandamus” was filed against the county in Clark County District Court covering the budget dispute. The petition asks the court to require the county to fund the $15.9 million.
A day earlier, the Health District sued the county, charging commissioners are failing to cooperate with plans for development of a new Health District headquarters office.
Friday’s court petition suggests the county is hypocritical for complaining about the state taking the county’s money and then turning around and taking the Health District’s money.
“In 2005 when the Southern Nevada Health District became a regional health district serving multiple municipalities and governments within Southern Nevada, the Nevada Legislature mandated direct funding to the Southern Nevada Health District from Clark County in order for the Southern Nevada Health District to provide essential services that benefit the public,” Friday’s court petition says.
“However, for the Southern Nevada Health District’s 2011-2012 budget, Clark County has arbitrarily reduced the Southern Nevada Health District’s direct funding from the required amount of $21.56 million to $5.692 million, which equates to a $15.867 million shortfall.
“The Southern Nevada Health District asks this court to compel Clark County to fund the Southern Nevada Health District completely and to restrain Clark County from further tampering with the Southern Nevada Health District’s direct funding,” the petition says.
The county budget shows that with all revenue sources, the Health District budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 will be $74.9 million, up from $73 million this year.
At issue is whether the Health District should receive all of the property taxes attributed to it, 3.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation countywide, the lawsuit suggests.
The county’s decision to withhold the $15.9 million violates “the public policy in Nevada prohibiting governments, such as Clark County, from arbitrarily taking funding belonging to other entities,” the lawsuit says.
Erik Pappa, a county spokesman, said county officials couldn’t immediately comment on the dispute as they hadn’t had a chance to fully review either Thursday’s lawsuit or Friday’s petition.