More than 90 percent of those who spoke at a town hall to discuss a potential new city in east Las Vegas told county leaders they do not like the plan.
This as a couple hundred residents packed the Hollywood Recreation Center gym for the meeting where Clark County leaders outlined some of the financial hurdles.
The finance director told the crowd an analysis of services provided to the township of Sunrise Manor showed the county is already spending around $37 million for police and fire services.
This after outlining projected revenues in the theoretical city of Sunrise Manor around $29.5 million.
The presentation went on to explain the new city would have to pay to build a jail, courthouse, city hall and other infrastructure.
Those who took to the microphone after the presentation were harsh in criticizing the plan with one man saying "this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard."
Residents who have explored the idea of creating a new city as a way to focus more resources in the area disputed the county's numbers and said they are developing their own plan
They say a new city may be the only way to guarantee their voices are heard.
"If they can present some realistic option where we are going to see changes, not just here and there, but overall changes where money is going to come. I'm all for it," Rachel Mangum said.
Many in the crowd agreed the east side of the Las Vegas valley needs more attention but said they don't want the added financial burden.
"We want opportunities. We don't want extra bills. We've got enough of those," a man told the county commissioners.
Mangum said she was disappointed by the tone of the meeting, but says her group will move forward and she is confident the support is out there.
While the group says they are putting together its own proposal, the next formal step in the process would be creating a petition.
If enough signatures were gathered on the petition it would trigger a fiscal study to take a harder look at the potential monetary standing of the proposed city.
