It’s all about revenue…or is it?
Van November 18th, 2010
So the economy in Vegas, and throughout the country has tanked. It’s certainly hitting our part of the world as hard, and evidence suggests actually harder than the rest of the country. Our governments, i.e. Nevada and its municipalities derive a large portion of their revenues from gaming and lodging, and the state, so far thankfully, has not imposed a state income tax. So what happens to governments when the revenue stream is hit as hard as it has been in the last two years, to make up the shortfall and continue to provide government services?
In the case of municipalities, a portion of their revenue stream comes from traffic enforcement, and it’s not a small amount. Several million dollars per year are collected by municipalities in Clark County alone. So it seems reasonable to assume that the municipalities would step up traffic enforcement in order to generate additional revenue to cover the shortfalls in the main revenue stream, i.e. gaming/hospitality taxes. The problem with that concept, is that the Las Vegas economy is derived from entertaining people and attracting tourists, and stepping up enforcement risks putting a damper on the already weakened economy by running off the golden goose: the tourist trade.
So what do we make of reports that one court in Clark County had nearly 30,000 fewer traffic cases this year over last? Should we assume that traffic enforcement has not been stepped up, or that the legendary “quotas” that we all suspect exist, have been lowered? I wouldn’t make that assumption.
The first issue is, that there are fewer cars on the road in Clark County. With the downturn in the tourist trade, fewer people are coming to Vegas, especially the California trade which largely made their way here in cars via I-15. Remember the days when you didn’t want to be coming to Vegas from CA on a Friday afternoon, and you didn’t want to be on I-15 heading to CA on a Sunday afternoon? It was near bumper to bumper for the entire 250 or so miles with occasional jam ups along the way. Well, it still happens, but very very occasionally anymore.
Next, the population of Clark County is actually decreasing. This is a little secret that doesn’t get much attention. Gone are the days when people were moving to Vegas at the level of thousands a month. In fact, some estimate that Clark County has lost as much as 50,000 in population in the last year. Of course, with those 50,000 people go an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 vehicles. So between the decline in the tourist trade and the reduction in population, there are fewer tickets being written for fewer vehicles on the road.
All of these facts certainly didn’t stop the cop who gave me a ticket for allegedly failing to stop at a deserted residential stop sign at about 8:30 PM when I was the only vehicle at the intersection. This was a particularly petty traffic stop, which was part of a trap, as there was a second cop-car at this scene, also with another driver pulled over being likewise victimized. And I suppose that the world is a safer place because of it. Luckily, my ticket is being handled by Ticket Busters, and my ticket will be negotiated to a parking violation, and handled without my need to stand in line at the courthouse or miss work to go to court. Call us at 666-6666.

