Carson City Nevada - An advisory question asking voters if Carson City should levy an eighth-cent sales tax to help raise money for the V&T Railroad project will appear on ballots this November, the city board of supervisors decided last week.
 
Mayor Marv Teixeira and others working to rebuild the railroad for tourism use painted the project as a balm for the city's recent money problems.
 
The city has already invested about US$21 million in the V&T and the new measure would aim to add US$10 million more.
 
"Anybody in their right mind would say I've lost my mind," Teixeira joked as he gave a presentation in support of placing the question.
 
"But this is the only project that will drive revenue back to Carson City. The only question is if we're going to take advantage of it or not."

Travis Santos, Mike Villanueva, and John DeGraw, muscle railroad ties under the rails during construction - 2005 Photographer? *2.

Under Teixeira's plan, the city would receive five percent of the railroad's gross revenue for the next 99 years in exchange for about $10 million in tax money.
 
He estimated that the city's annual share of the V&T's profits could reach US$500,000 within a few years of the railway's opening, which is slated for 2011.
 
He also noted that the tax increase would "sunset" after the city recouped its investment, possibly as soon as 2019.
 
Other members of the board and the community expressed concerns that the tax increase, the last the board can legally impose without getting approval from the state Legislature, could be better used elsewhere.
 
"Posing this question (to voters) indicates that the V&T is our No. 1 priority," said Supervisor Robin Williamson, the only board member to eventually vote against placing the question.
 
"I don't believe that's the case."
 
Williamson and Supervisor Shelly Aldean voiced worries that approval of the tax would limit the board's ability to adapt in the event of a problem with basic city services, such as roads and utilities.
 
Several board members and residents also wondered what would happen to the project if voters rejected the tax.
 
Because the question is only advisory, the board could vote to impose or deny the tax regardless of the public's verdict, but Aldean said she would be unlikely to defy a popular "No" vote.
 
"We have to respect the will of the people," she said.
 
"If we don't abide by what they decide, the whole thing looks like a subterfuge."
 
Teixeira, visibly frustrated with his colleagues' hesitation, said he believed voters would overwhelmingly support the tax once they understood it.
 
"I have no doubt that if the board allows us to talk to the people of the community, they will agree on this," he said.
 
"An informed Carson City will give a positive advisory vote."
 
So far, reconstructing the 18.3 mile V&T has been far more difficult and expensive than planners expected, Nevada Commission for Reconstruction of the V&T Railway chair Bob Hadfield said earlier this month.
 
While organizers estimated in 2004 that it would cost no more than US$1.5 million per mile to lay the track, treacherous terrain and right-of-way costs have driven it much higher, sometimes as high as $5 million.
 
By the time the railroad reaches Mound House, the tab is expected to reach US$30 million, with at least US$25 million in costs remaining to finish the job, Teixeira said.
 
However, the increase in tourism and gambling generated by the railroad could attract an additional US$13 million to the area each year, Hadfield said.
 
Author unknown.