Given we’ve shared that a general improvement district’s (“GID’s”) Board of Trustees’ (“Board’s”) power to “fix, and from time to time increase or decrease…rates, tolls or charges other than special assessments” flows from NRS 318.197(1), and that this NRS instructs those exactments may “includ(e), but not limited to…charges for services or facilities furnished,” here we examine what are “user fees?” And whether they are legitimately encompassed within the term “charges for services or facilities” to pay the costs the District incurs to furnish recreation services or facilities. In other words, can they be NRS 318.197 “rates, tolls or charges…for services or facilities furnished by the District?” Here the answer is “YES.”

“A user fee is a charge imposed by the government for the primary purpose of covering the cost of providing a service (or access to a facility), directly raising funds from the people who benefit from the particular public good or service being provided.”¹ In terms of NRS 318.197, it is in fact a “rate…toll or charge…for services or facilities furnished by the district.” Because user fees are charged at most of the District’s public recreation facilities², regardless of whether the RFF/BFF are paid, user fees are what pay for the recreation services and access to the recreation facilities the District furnishes.

And now you know!

1. Go to https://taxfoundation.org/taxedu/glossary/user-fee/).
2. See ¶104(b) of Ordinance 7.