After watching their STARs for the past 120 days, developers are now resting at night knowing that there will be no changes to this government-sponsored revenue source.

Sales Tax Anticipated Revenue (STAR) bonds were the subject of many debates in the just-finished legislative session, as Assembly Bill 422 sought to change the way the funding mechanisms were used. And while some wanted to tighten up where the bond money goes, others wanted to make sure that their funding didn’t change.

However, the status quo remained the same after the bill died in the final hours of the 2009 legislative session.

STAR bonds hit the limelight in 2005 when state Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Washoe County District No. 2, suggested that the State “authorize under certain circumstances the pledge of certain sales and use tax proceeds and state funding for certain projects for the promotion of economic development and tourism.”

In essence, Washington’s Senate Bill 305 gave retailers the ability to use 75 percent of the sales tax they generate to pay construction costs, if they can prove they can attract mostly tourists.

However, Democratic Sparks Assemblywoman Debbie Smith felt that STAR bonds needed a few changes. So, she introduced Assembly Bill 422 to the 2009 session.

Smith’s bill “excluded local school support taxes from any further pledges of STAR bond revenues.”

According to reports by the Nevada Appeal, quoting a district official, the STAR bond funding structure has cost the Washoe County School District $1.7 million in the past two years.

If approved, the changes would have also tightened requirements for revenue reporting. The current law has no performance standards that retailers have to achieve in order to earn their bond funding.

STAR bonds have helped fund the billion-dollar Legends at Sparks Marina project as well as the Cabela’s Sporting Goods store near Verdi.