Editor:
Hasn’t Pershing County paid dearly for the Burning Man Events, can we as taxpayers continue to do so? Pershing County has repeatedly been sued, either by or with BRC, requiring legal representation costing us greatly, even when we win, we lose. BRC clearly violated the “Settlement Agreement” by appealing, it’s not settled if it’s ongoing.
Has BRC ever covered our cost? Certainly not the legal fees incurred. The taxpayers pay for the year-round infrastructure, unlike BRC which seems only to pay for some of the services they use.
BLM has repeatedly had issues with BRC for violating their agreed upon population limitation.
Out of county law enforcement must be hired for the event. Those monies don’t stay or are spent here. Washoe, Lyon and Humboldt do well however with taxes, fees, and are paid for services.
Pershing County briefly had a Festival Tax of a whopping $1.50 per person per day though it was never collected. For 70,000 people, for nine days it could have been almost $945K. BRC didn’t like this “tax” yet it now charges $50 per car for almost 27,000 vehicles which would be $1.35 Million. 69,000 tickets for $27.75M
Though many of the participants will be hosted at the sheriff’s office jail for days, weeks, or months it will be at county expense. To be fair the settlement agreement from 2013 does pays the county $240K for a peak population up to 69,999 or less than $4 per person. No wonder they want the event here. Should we as taxpayers continue losing revenue and provide the infrastructure at our cost for a population of 70,000?
The commissioners set and control the budget; shouldn’t that include revenue generation? BLM charges a fee or do they do it at cost? High time for a change isn’t it?
David Skelton
Lovelock
