LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — “A staggering sum.”

“A tough road ahead.”

Those are the words used by Las Vegas City Manager Mike Janssen in a message to staff about the impact of the battle over the Badlands.

Janssen’s email to city staff, which was reprinted in a citywide newsletter, shows for the first time the stark reality of how the city council’s decision will affect city jobs, projects and properties.

KTNV

Once a golf course, Badlands is now one risky eye sore lined with cracking sidewalks that no one cares to fix. The land may look worthless, but it’s costing taxpayers $235 million and counting.

And now the city has to figure out how to pay for it.

In recent weeks, the city has begun paying developer Yohan Lowie part of a court-ordered judgment — about $48 million so far in a series of cases that could end up costing nearly half a billion dollars.

I recently sat down with Janssen to discuss all things Badlands. It was the first time any member of city staff has agreed to talk about the Badlands on camera.

“You said this is a very tough road ahead of us,” I said.

“It is and it’s one that I think we need the whole city team to be a part of,” Janssen told me.

That’s why he said he sent the email to city employees.

“I wanted to give them as much accuracy as I could but also let them know that we are working on a strategy to work through this.”

KTNV

The first strategy? A hiring freeze.

“We’re not freezing any positions related to the fire department or related to our marshals — things related to public safety. Unfortunately, the positions that are being frozen are things like some of our engineers, some of our planners, some of our administrative assistants.”

So far, he says there are 30 spots on the freeze list.

“So someone who needs a job and otherwise might have gotten that job, it’s not available to them,” I said.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s a strategy that has worked in the past when we’ve faced some financial challenges,” Janssen explained. “And so, with a challenge like this before us, freezing positions is a relatively easy step for us to take compared to other options.”

Janssen says layoffs aren’t on the table … for now. But other cuts are capital improvement projects paid for from the city’s general fund. Capital improvement projects include roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and streetlights as well as parks, trails, fire stations, communities and sports fields, just to name a few.

WATCH: City makes first payments on massive Badlands legal tab

City makes first payments on Badlands’ massive legal tab, now approaching $236 million

Janssen says they are working on a recommended list of projects the city council could consider delaying, but he did not have specifics.

They are also evaluating selling some city properties.

I pointed out that the need for affordable housing is staggering within the city and county and asked if the city was considering selling properties that might otherwise be used for something like that.

Again, Janssen said they are still working on a list of properties to present to the City Council.

“What are you telling the taxpayers about what you have called a ‘staggering amount,'” I asked.

“I would say to our citizens that we have done our very best to make the best choices out of the situation, recognizing that it is a very tough situation,” Janssen responded.

It’s a situation that former Ward 2 Councilman Bob Beers says was “completely avoidable.”

When Beers was on the council when the battle against the Badlands began more than seven years ago, he said council members were “fully warned by the city attorney at the time that it would result in this outcome.”

KTNV

Despite residential zoning, and later upheld in legal rulings, the city’s elected leaders prevented Lowie from developing housing on his property by setting up administrative roadblocks and denying applications and permits against the advice of his own staff and planning commission.

It was a fight backed by a handful of wealthy Queensridge homeowners who didn’t want development on the foreclosed golf course behind their homes.

Former Ward 2 Councilman Steve Seroka, who unseated Beers in 2017, tried to appease those homeowners by falsely telling them the Badlands was an open recreation space.

But it isn’t. It is private property and always has been.

KTNV

Even so, Janssen says, “I think the decisions we made were based on the best of intentions.”

Four Nevada District Court judges and a unanimous Nevada Supreme Court found that the city engaged in egregious and systematic actions to illegally take Lowie’s entire 250-acre property without paying constitutionally just compensation.

The city has so far lost three out of four lawsuits. One remains pending. In the case, which the city lost on appeal to the state Supreme Court, the justices called the city’s actions “hostile.”

“The justices called the city’s actions ‘bad decisions with no basis in law.'” And now, it’s coming home that not only for taxpayers — who are in a giant hole — but now city jobs and city properties and projects are being sucked into that hole as well. I asked.

“Yes. It’s interesting how every other entity in Southern Nevada and many in Northern Nevada signed on to our amicus brief on the first case because they all agreed that the action that has been taken by the court is simply not correct. And when I’m not saying correct, it has to do with, if you want to develop real estate, there’s a process you go through where you hear everyone’s comments about that real estate and you try to come to a decision that’s harmonious and compatible with the surroundings and that’s exactly so land planning has been done for decades and decades, all over the country for that matter.”

“But the court calls it an ‘unlawful taking,'” I pointed out.

“The court calls it an unlawful taking and I think that’s where all the local authorities have said there’s a problem here,” Janssen said.

One of those local agencies – Clark County – recently settled a similar case with Gypsum Resources and its owner Jim Rhodes regarding the Blue Diamond Hill housing development.

That cost taxpayers $80 million, far less than what the city faces by continuing to fight the Badlands cases and delaying payment of judgments.

KTNV

Some say the county saw the writing on the Badlands wall.

The city had a chance to cut its losses in 2022 with a $64 million settlement that was rejected at the eleventh hour.

“Several other opportunities to resolve this have been blown off by the city, even though the city says they didn’t,” Beers told me. “I was involved in the first one and the city absolutely did. They changed the terms of the agreement at the last second and you can’t do that.”

Sitting in a conference room under a wall reminder that “good judgment” is one of the city’s core values, Janssen said the city intends to continue fighting the fourth case that is still pending in court.

KTNV

“Do you think the other three cases are so fundamentally different to warrant another million in legal bills for the taxpayers to take it all the way to a Supreme Court that is already known not to look favorably on this,” I asked.

“Yes. I think the parameters behind the four cases are so unique,” Janssenn said.

Not according to the city’s own private attorneys, who have stated dozens of times on the record that the four cases are identical and that the Nevada Supreme Court’s opinion in the one case it decided would resolve all issues of fact and law in the other cases. .

“And so, what I would say is that we have been working in parallel. On the one hand, the cases have continued to work their way through the courts and on the other hand, we have been meeting with their lawyer periodically, to try to facilitate a proposal that we believe can be fair for everyone and that will continue to be our mission until the last case is decided, says Janssen.

Beers calls it all “very frustrating.”

“Where can a taxpayer find accountability for bad actions? That’s what this was. Make no mistake! No matter how whitewashed the rhetoric is coming from the city, make no mistake. This was a bad action, an illegal action, by politicians. Where is the accountability ?”

The Badlands have become the central issue in Las Vegas’ mayoral race, so accountability could come from voting taxpayers who are stuck paying the staggering price for the city’s losing strategy.

That price rises every day the city doesn’t pay the full amount of the judgment in the 35-acre case — which they lost on appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Interest charges of $1,557.79 accrue each day the balance remains unpaid. Currently, the interest on the unpaid balance is almost $70,000 and counting.

We asked the city when they planned to pay it in full to stop the bleeding of tax dollars, at least in this case we got the following response.

WATCH: New Drones from Channel 13 Show Defunct Badlands Golf Course

New drone images show closed Badlands golf course

The builder’s lawyers dispute this.

“Contrary to what the city states, there is nothing left to exercise,” attorney Jim Leavitt said. “The City has been ordered to pay the remaining funds owed in the 35-acre case within 30 days of Monday, August 12, 2024, and the court ordered the City to pay an additional $1,557.79 per day for each day the City is in arrears.

“Judge Timothy C. Williams signed five orders on Monday, August 12, 2024, ordering the City to pay the remaining funds owed and each order states that “The City shall pay these funds by depositing the payment with the court by 10 p.m. thirty (30) days after notice of entry of this order.” This is in line with NRS 37.140, which states that in outstanding cases the government “must, within 30 days after the final judgment, pay the assessed sum of money.”

“NRS 37.160 then provides that after the city has paid the funds, the court will enter a final judgment of condemnation transferring title to the city subject to the landowners’ right of reversion to repurchase the 35-acre property for the price paid for the land.”

A court hearing has been set for Sept. 9 for the parties to appear and report to Judge Williams on the status of the city’s compliance with the court order.

You can follow our continued coverage at ktnv.com/badlands.