Clark County may be a relatively complex local government and largest county in Washington owing to the provision of city and regional services. Regional services are provided to any or all Clark county residents, together with those that live at intervals town of city, Boulder, Mesquite, Henderson to name but a few. The county budget in 2016 was $6.25 billion; the final fund budget amounted $1.24 billion which expressed in percentage form is 20% of the overall county budget. The year 2014 had a fund balance of 17.3% of the overall county budget while 2015 had 20.2 % of the overall county budget. From the figures, it’s clear that fund balance for the three accounted for years exceeded risk based fund by $2.34 million thus a positive financial health trait can be deduced (Budget and Financial Planning, n.d.).
The county’s sales that are taxable augmented from $32.6billion to $36.5 billion in the year 2015; this shows again a positive trend of increase over the last three years. Since gaming revenues reflect augmented from $9.4 billion in 2013 to $9.8 in 2014 then drop down to $9.6 in 2015. This shows that such revenue isn't a property supply of revenue for Clark County therefore, it ought to be replaced with another revenue supply. There is a warning call that ought to check, as in operation revenue per capita has diminished steady from $735 to $638 in 2015 (Budget and Financial Planning, n.d.). This shows that even with population is increasing; the in operation is revenue isn't increasing proportionately with the population. This suggests that, even though a requirement for service provision would possibly increase, the revenue might not be in a position to handle all the services required in Clark County
The decrease in revenue per capita has wedged negatively on the budget of as well as provision. The 2016 budget was come forth at a scene augmented prices, most notably the metropolitan police, Clark county jail as well as University medical center. For instance, metropolitan Police augmented by $71 million, the department features a $20 million deficit whereas the jail features a $23 million deficit. The county used the remainder amounting to $2.9 million within the general fund to engage forty new staff within the departments within the IT and juvenile justice department. This can be as a result of the actual fact the county slashed its staff by twenty percent throughout recession (Budget and Financial Planning, n.d.).
Clark County’s money policy on tax fees and charges are tough, ensuring timely payments of tax fees and charges in addition with their ability to cut back incidents of residents breaking the county by-laws. For example, “Clark County has ensured that their money policy remains ethical via diversifying revenue sources from taxes and charges to fees via construction a lot of public recreations centers like public parks thus making sure that the residents don't seem to be loaded by taxes. In addition to that, a legal cap on some taxes permits and licenses to safeguard the residents from exploitation by the county officers” (Budget and Financial Planning, n.d.).
The county’s code of ethics that calls for county officers to disclose their conflict of interest works to ensure that fees, taxes and charges are not employed county officers for personal gain. The law stipulates that senior ranking officers, particularly the commissioners to confide in the board any probable conflict of interest before they engage any law (Budget and Financial Planning, n.d.). Moreover, Clark County has ensured ethics by encouraging public participation in money policies affecting and within the county, thus encouraging responsibility and transparency
The most visible internal opportunities are the taxable sales. Looking back from year 2010, such sales have augmented from $28.0 million to $36.5 million in 20115 which is an indication of vast area for revenue growth from the sector. The County has from 2009 to 2015, has increased tourists from 36.2 million to 42.5 million. Clark County can decide to introduce a small fee from such tourists as source of revenue. Such revenue can be reinvested to build a lot of social amenities and charge guests a lot of for these services; this can increase the county’s revenue. The key challenge of revenue of supply is in recreation. Revenue from recreation has diminished from $9.8million in 2014 to $9.6 million in 2015 which depicts a challenge of probable reduction in future revenue (Budget and Financial Planning, n.d.).
References
Budget and Financial Planning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.clarkcountynv.gov /finance/budget/Pages/default.aspx
Hyman, D. N. (2014). Public finance: A contemporary application of theory to policy (11th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.