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The five brothels operating in Nye County generated $392,327 in taxes and fees for the county over the past two years, according to a study released Tuesday by the Nye County Board of Commissioners.
That is compared with $31,190 spent on government staff time for hearings and inspections, and lawsuits dealing with the industry — largely tied to famed brothel owner Dennis Hof.
The presentation did not include 2018 figures, which would add the cost of pending lawsuits between Nye County and Hof that are in the early stages and could drive up expenses because each lawsuit has a deductible of up to $50,000.
Hof’s Love Ranch South brothel in Crystal outside of Pahrump was shuttered for a few weeks beginning in February after the county found several building permit violations at the site. The brothel was allowed to reopen on March 16 after vowing to address the issues.
Commissioner Lorinda Wichman ordered the study to see if it was financially feasible to keep brothels legal in the county. Originally, Wichman said she would favor banishing brothels if the financial data showed the county was losing money with the lawsuits.
She later changed her stance, saying if it showed the county was subsidizing the industry that she would be in favor of raising fees associated with legal sex industry.
There was no action taken by the commission and there are no plans to bring the item back up at a future commission meeting, said Arnold Knightly, the Nye County spokesperson.
However, Commissioner Butch Borasky thought the expense figures presented were too low and requested to meet with the county manager for further explanation.
As the county mulls over the financial info, the No Little Girl group is attempting to gather 1,963 signatures from registered Nye County voters before June 15 to get the question of whether Nye County residents want brothels in the county on the ballot for November’s general election.
A representative of the group wasn’t immediately available for comment for an updated signature count, but on May 3, organizer Jason Guinasso said they had collected 700 signatures.
Last week, Lyon County announced they were drafting language to put an advisory question on their November ballot, to give voters the opportunity to rescind the county’s brothel ordinance. No Little Girl started a petition in Lyon County as well, which led to the draft language being created.