As elsewhere demonstrated, as a special purpose district¹ IVGID’s basic powers are expressly limited² to those we have identified³. And remember, should there be any doubt as to the extent of those powers, that doubt must be construed against the District and the power be denied⁴.

But as the reader will learn, IVGID staff do not recognize these limitations. They take the position that because IVGID “is a legally separate government…fiscally independent of any other governmental entity⁵…(the District is) not financially accountable (to) any other entity.”⁶ Thus they call IVGID only “quasi public”⁷ rather than the “quasi-municipal corporation” it really is⁸. Armed with these views, and bolstered by past IVGID Boards which have abdicated away to staff most District’s powers⁹, current staff take the view they may exercise all powers necessary or proper to address matters of local concern that are not expressly prohibited by NRS 318, so they may implement and carry out programs and functions for the District’s effective operation. In other words, if it’s not expressly prohibited the District is free to fill the “void” so to speak, notwithstanding NRS 318.175¹⁰, NRS 318.180¹¹, NRS 318.185¹², and NRS 318.015(1)¹³ all instruct to the contrary. Given staff’s massive overspending and its need to tax local properties (via disingenuous involuntary “fees”) to make up the financial deficiency, the conflict between staff and the public with the IVGID Board placed smack dab in the middle.

So now you know!

1. See NRS 308.020(2) which defines the term “special district” to “mean…any…general improvement district, or…other quasi-municipal corporation organized under the local improvement and service district laws of this State.”
2. NRS 244.137(3)(a) instructs that “Dillon’s Rule provides that (the governing board of a local government) possesses and may exercise only the following powers and no others: those…granted in express terms by the Nevada Constitution or statute.”
3. That’s it [see A.G.O. No. 63-61, p. 102, at p. 103 (August 12, 1963)].
4. NRS 244.137(4) instructs that “Dillon’s Rule also provides that if there is any fair or reasonable doubt concerning the existence of a power, that doubt is resolved against the board of county commissioners and the power is denied.”
5. See that August 21, 2015 Memorandum to the Washoe County Board authored by former Washoe County Assistant District Attorney Paul Lipparelli re the Legal Authority of General Improvement Districts in Nevada.
6. See ¶1(A) at page 35 of IVGID’s 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (“the 2019 CAFR”).
7. See https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid/about-ivgid.
8. See NRS 318.075(1) which instructs IVGID is a quasi-municipal corporation. But what is a quasi-municipal corporation? According to Eugene McQuillin’s landmark treatise The Law of Municipal Corporations 2d Ed., Chapter 2, §135, Municipal Corporations Distinguished From Quasi-Corporations, p. 403 (1940 Revision by Ray Smith), considered the definitive work in the area of municipal corporations, quasi-municipal corporations are “public agenc(ies) endowed with such of the (limited) attributes of a municipality as may be necessary in the performance of (their) limited objective(s). In other words…public agenc(ies) created or authorized by the legislature to aid the state in, or to take charge of, some public or state work, other than community government, for the general welfare…They are bodies that possess a limited number of corporate powers…which are low down in the scale or grade of corporate existence.”
9. See ¶II of Policy 142, Resolution 1898 instructs that “the District operates under a Board-Manager form of government which places the Board of Trustees in the role of establishing overall IVGID policy direction. IVGID Staff is appointed to administer and execute day-to-day operations. The (General) Manager is responsible for supervising these operations and providing general administrative direction. With regard to IVGID personnel, it is the Board’s responsibility to establish overall guidelines governing IVGID’s approach to personnel matters. The (General) Manager’s role is to put these guidelines into the day-to-day practice of hiring, firing, motivating, promoting, demoting, compensating, and training individual employees.”
10. Which instructs “the board shall have the power: (1) to manage, control and supervise all the business and affairs of the district; and, (2) to acquire, improve, equip, operate and maintain any district project.”
11. Which instructs “the board shall have the power to hire and retain agents, employees, servants, engineers and attorneys, (as well as) any other persons necessary or desirable to effect the purposes of this chapter.”
12. Which instructs “the board shall have the power to prescribe the duties of officers, agents, employees and servants, and (to) fix their compensation.”
13. Which instructs that “for the accomplishment of these purposes the provisions of this chapter shall be broadly construed.”