RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - County leaders say they will not be making previously discussed, deep budget cuts to senior services after push back from the community. But News 4's Fact Finder Team uncovered that no one seems to know where exactly that extra money will come from.
During a joint meeting last week between the County, Reno and Sparks, some suggested moving part of the special animal services tax rate over to senior services to keep this program going. But the county did some number crunching and found out that won't work.
“It would make animal services bankrupt or go broke by 2015, so we have to look at something else,” Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung said.
Others are toying with a ballot measure - thinking the public would support raising taxes; however, Reno and the County are already at their property tax limit - meaning someone would have to be cut.
“The governments that receive part of that property tax rate would have to negotiate or the debt management commission as the first step would decide who would get what tax rate. It becomes a very problematic process when we're all cutting budgets already,” Washoe County Manager Katy Simon said.
The senior services executive director is supposed to suggest ideas for funding the program at a county meeting in the next few weeks. And every community leader told News 4 they're also going to work hard to find a solution. Of course we'll stay on top of this and let you know about any developments.
