LAS VEGAS (AP) - Projects paid for by a Clark County fuel tax increase have not employed as many minority workers as officials expected, missing one of three goals set when commissioners approved the funds for transportation improvements.
Only 4 percent of the 2.1 million hours of work went to African-Americans and less than 1 percent to Asians, the Las Vegas Review-Journal (https://bit.ly/2oEO7ky ) reported.
Payroll data compiled by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada over the past three years also show that Caucasian workers accounted for almost half of the hours, while Hispanics racked up about one-third of the time.
“This is not a slice of a pie,” county commissioner Lawrence Weekly said. “This is not even a sliver.”
During a meeting last month, Weekly said he was disgusted to learn about the few hours that went to black workers.
Officials had hoped to accomplish three goals - generate jobs, hire small businesses and emphasize the hiring of minority workers.
The project generated 5,305 jobs and almost half of the 166 project contracts were awarded to small businesses.
Most of Nevada’s nine construction firms owned by African-Americans were not ready to undertake major highway construction projects because their specialty is vertical structures, such as homes and hotels, said Shaundell Newsome, a marketing professional hired by the transportation commission.
“If you don’t have the bonding capacity, the proper insurance, the equipment, the personnel, it’s extremely difficult to get on some of these jobs” Newsome said.
Voters last year extended the fuel tax for another decade to fund about 200 more transportation projects.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, https://www.lvrj.com
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