Not much yet. The probe of the Nevada Taxicab Authority is in an interim phase, while the warring parties wait for the Nevada Legislature to convene in 2017 (barring special sessions, it only meets in odd-numbered years) and cut the Gordian Knot.
In a 2015 audit, the Division of Internal Audits of the Governor's Finance Office found that consumers had been overcharged to the tune of $47 million in Clark County and the Nevada Taxicab Authority should be abolished and its duties reassigned to the Nevada Transportation Authority (which presides over taxi services in the rest of Nevada) or to Clark County, a conclusion that was seconded by Gov. Brian Sandoval. NTA Administrator Ron Grogan wearily agreed that the Taxicab Authority was probably obsolete and having difficulty coping with existing regulations.
According to auditor Steve Weinberger, the findings have been forwarded to the Executive Board Audit Committee. "We will follow up with the Taxicab Authority in six months" of the original finding, to see what degree of cooperation has occurred. The results of that follow-up will be presented to the next Audit Committee meeting, on June 20. "We follow up on any non-implemented recommendations," Weinberger explains.
As far as the most draconian measure proposed – the elimination of the Nevada Taxicab Authority entirely (the name is misleading; its authority only extends to Clark County) – that involves dissolving something enshrined in statute. In other words, "somebody would have to go through the legislative process," Weinberger explains. The Department of Business & Industry could make the request, as could the executive branch, but they'd have to find a lawmaker willing to haul the fare in Carson City.
"It's clear [Sandoval] wasn't happy that board members dissed him and his committee when the findings were released," reported Richard Velotta in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Already, Sandoval has removed Ileana Drobkin as chairwoman of the NTA, prompting her outright resignation. In the meantime, the NTA has commissioned a study by Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis in an effort to rebut the audit's findings.
So far, the Audit Committee has had limited success. The NTA charges credit-car users a $3 fee per transaction, resulting in a $27 million windfall for cab companies. By comparison, state agencies pay Wells Fargo less than a dime per credit-card transaction. That $3 levy is still in place (although it remains unpopular with some drivers, who say customers mistake it for a gratuity), although the audit recommended a reduction to 90 cents at most, if not an outright elimination.
But a gas-price surcharge has been eliminated. If the price of fuel was above $3.25 a gallon for more than 30 consecutive days, cabbies could add 20 cents a mile to trip fees. Among the Audit Committee's finding was that the basis for this surcharge was indexed to a federal average of gas prices that included states like California. The Audit Committee wanted it pegged to Clark County gas prices only.
According to the Los Angeles Times article, auditors said "the surcharge is unique among the 12 major Western cities that the taxi board tracks." Read the audit, "The board's decision is a windfall for the industry. These are mostly tourist/visitor dollars that would otherwise likely be spent elsewhere in the local economy."
What the NTA did in response was knock 12 cents off the surcharge and impose the remaining eight cents in the form of a permanent rate increase. The Audit Committee can butt heads with the NTA at six-month intervals but can only pressure for change, not impose it – let alone reassign the Authority's responsibility to someone else.
"Modernization is [also] a top priority," said Department of Business & Industry Director Bruce Breslow. "It's like you're walking into the precinct from Barney Miller where everybody's still working on four copies of paperwork," he said of the NTA.
In the case of the three-buck impost on credit cards, the Legislature has no one to blame but itself, having imposed that surcharge six years ago. However, its repeal would go a long way toward rehabilitating the NTA's image with the public. For now, the public has to wait for the Legislature to act … and keep on paying those surcharges and rate increases.
