Downtown Reno property owners to start paying fees for clean up, safety

Anjeanette Damon
Reno Gazette-Journal
An ambitious five-year plan is testing the mettle of the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority. RGJ file photos
Reno Arch during the day 2015.

The Reno City Council moved forward Wednesday on the creation of a new business improvement district, which would charge property owners a fee to fund a private organization to provide public safety, cleaning and marketing services for downtown.

Under the plan, property owners would be charged a fee based on the assessed value of their property. Those who receive enhanced cleaning services would pay an additional amount based on their property's feet of linear street frontage.

The new fee would replace two special property tax assessments already paid by most property owners in the proposed downtown district and would generate about $2.35 million for a private non-profit organization to spend maintaining the area. 

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The non-profit downtown maintenance organization would be run by a private board of directors selected by a nominating committee of downtown business activists. The non-profit would hire "ambassadors" to greet tourists and provide public safety services. Caseworkers would also be employed to try and connect homeless individuals with support services.

The plan is backed by most major property owners in downtown, including the Eldorado, Silver Legacy, Circus Circus and Harrah's casinos, Saint Mary's Hospital and Jacobs Entertainment, which is planning a major redevelopment project in west downtown.

"I've never seen so many businesses, even conservative businesses, so excited about taxing themselves," said Reno developer Par Tolles who has been involved in creating the downtown maintenance organization. "This is a unique situation where we are willing to dig into our own pockets."

Some individual homeowners objected to paying a fee that would fund a private entity. Several churches and non-profit organizations, which are generally exempt from paying property taxes, also objected to be included in the fee.

Both the Nevada Museum of Art and the National Automobile Museum opposed the fee.

“The museum is in support of this proposal for the core downtown center. However, we are not in a financial position to commit to an annual assessment," wrote David Walker, CEO of the art museum, which is exempt from about $200,000 a year in property taxes.

Under the plan, the Nevada Museum of Art would owe $14,296 a year to the district.

Several religious organizations also objected to being included in the fee, saying it could violate state laws exempting them from property tax assessments.

The Rev. Kris Marshall, of the United Methodist Church, implored the council to spend the $1 million it has pledged to the district on direct services for the needy.

"We are being assessed who are doing direct aid to pay for ambassadors to refer people to services that don't exist," Marshall said. "Our fear is you will chase away the people who are poor."

Councilman Paul McKenzie agreed.

"This alone is not the solution," he said. "We had some very compelling testimony today on the fact the services out there aren't available to take  care of these people. If we can't address affordable housing in this community, this BID isn't going to do anything for you."

Neither non-profits nor churches pay the existing special assessments for police and cleaning services downtown.

Even though they have not been included in the assessments so far, Nevada law allows for them to be charged, said Kristin Lowell, an engineer hired to assess whether each property in the district would be benefited by the services of the non-profit.

"This is not a tax," Lowell said. "They may be exempt from taxation, but they are not exempt from assessments. I want to make that clear." 

Tolles pleaded with the non-profits and churches to participate.

"This is a chance for them to participate with us," he said. "I've looked at the assessments and a lot of them are not that egregious. We would welcome their participation."

Councilwoman Naomi Duerr didn't have too much sympathy for requests by non-profits and churches to be exempt.

"This is a fee. You're paying for a service," she said. "We don't say, 'You're a religious organization so you don't have to pay for water. Or, you're a religious organization, you don’t have to pay for sewer'."

The city and downtown businesses have been working to create the district for the past two years after a study by Denver-based Progressive Urban Management Associates recommended it. Other cities such as Sacramento, Calif., Spokane, Wash., and Boise, Idaho, have similar organizations.

Assistant Police Chief Jason Soto also spoke in favor of the district, saying the non-profits ambassadors and caseworkers will free his officers up to respond to actual crimes or critical incidences rather than assisting homeless individuals.

"This BID process allows other experienced professional to address those individuals to ensure our officers in their black and whites are patrolling the streets of Reno," he said.