Gee, and you thought the big issue at Thursday's meeting of the Carson City Board of Supervisors was going to the redevelopment project that has been the object of heated discussions for the past year.

But the revelation that a 14 percent hike in the property tax rate was also on the agenda seems to be causing people to put the Nugget Project on the back burner.

I went to a Chamber of Commerce mixer tonight, and the property tax hike was the only thing people wanted to talk about. Any mention of the Nugget Project was done in relation to how this tax hike was seemingly designed to pay for it.

Besides the usual talk about raising taxes, the big issue here is the contention that this measure wasn't clearly spelled out on the agenda for this meeting. Some even talked about challenging the legality of how this was listed on the agenda.

Here is the wording used in the agenda:

Discussion and possible action to direct staff to use the “allowed” property tax rate as determined by the Department of Taxation for use in preparing the Carson City FY 2012 Budget. (Nick Providenti & Larry Werner)

Staff Summary: Staff is seeking direction on establishing the property tax rate for use in preparing the Carson City FY 2012 Budget. The actual rates will not be available until February 15, 2011, but the Department of Taxation is requesting that we indicate which rate we will use and provide them the information by February 22, 2011. We will provide the tax rate analysis as late material and discuss the consequences at the meeting.

Now, this might meet the letter of the law, but I think you could certainly argue that it violates the spirit of the law. How about using the words "increase" or "raise"? Fortunately, other people were able to decipher the bureaucratic language and discover the tax hike hiding inside.

The fact that the $1.3 million this tax increase is expected to bring in each year is close to the $1.2 million that is being proposed to come out of the city's general fund to pay for the Nugget Project means it's almost impossible to argue that the two aren't related, even if this wasn't the intent. And putting both on the same agenda seals that perception.

If the uproar over the property tax hike causes the supervisors to bail on that proposal in the morning session, could carry over to the Nugget Project vote in the afternoon?

In between, the supervisors will be talking about spending $4.5 million for a gymnasium complex as part of the the effort to build a Multi-Purpose Athletic Complex. Even though this money comes from a different source, that distinction may be lost on citizens upset about the other two issues.

How much can supervisors tax and spend in one meeting? We'll find out tomorrow.