Tesla surges on Wall Street.

Meanwhile on Electric Avenue, Tesla taps county resources.

• Tesla’s market capitalization is now in excess of $92 billion
• in 2015 Tesla and Storey County entered into a services agreement to help offset the massive burden the Gigafactory places on County services with tax abatements (original can be found at the end of this article)
• Tesla failed to renew the services agreement in June 2018 as required
• Tesla Continued to pay under the old terms of the contract without adjustment for the increase in costs and service demands
• Beginning in June 2019, Tesla stopped paying and now owes $1,252,689.03

Tesla Bulls Run Hard

Those of you who follow the stock market know Tesla stock has skyrocketed recently. Tesla has doubled in value over the past 90 days and its market capitalization is now in excess of $90 billion. This run-up is nothing short of amazing and the bulls are doing orgasmic donuts in the parking lot. Tesla’s stock peaked at $544 on January 14th and is closed at 510 today.

Storey County planning commissioner, Gilman family trust advisor, Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) project manager, TRI-GID board chairman and doublewide trailer bunkmate of Lance “The Magnificent” Gilman and his main squeeze brothel madame Jennifer Barnes-Milsap (if you swallow the narrative that Gilman and his concubine actually sleep at the brothel) Kris “don’t call me Tris” Thompson made hay about Tesla’s run on the VCH email chat group the other day:

Making major news today in the financial world is that for the first time ever, Tesla has become the most valuable carmaker in the United States of all time.

Tesla’s market value (# of shares x share value) has gone up and up to $85 billion. This smashes the previous record of Ford in 1999 who reached $80.8 billion.

Team Storey cheerleader Lance The Magnificent never misses a chance to ooze about the vast abundance of cash flowing from the Land of the Merry TRICsters (aka the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center). And they are not without good reason. Since Governor Sandoval and Lance the Magnificent “Musked” us in 2015, many businesses have located operations and brought jobs to lil’ ol’ Storey County. County Ad Valorem tax revenues have increased steadily in the Land of the Merry TRICsters over the past five years.

Not Our Fault!

Team Storey cheerleaders quickly turn into Tesla apologists when the subject of tax abatements comes up. Storey County Commission Chairman Marshall McBride at Commission meetings has often bemoaned the fact that the State of Nevada “did this to us” and portrays us as unwitting victims. “Storey County did not have a seat at the table during Tesla’s negotiations,” McBride explained at a County Commission Meeting last year.

Forget the fact that Storey County pays over $100k to lobbyists (including Boss Hogg wannabe and former County Commissioner Bum Hess) whose job it is to elbow our way onto that table and grab our seat. Current County Commissioner Lance Gilman was at the table, but he wasn’t there representing the residents of Storey County. He was there representing Roger Norman, the Land of the Merry TRICsters, and his wallet. All three were big winners when the Nevada Legislature passed SB1 on 9/11 of 2014.

Fun Fact: When you vote for a real estate developer for commissioner, expect to take the back seat to the special interests while they go through your wallet.

Case Study: Storey County.

Annual Service Agreement

Pursuant to Sections 31 and 35 of SB1, Storey County and Tesla entered into an agreement that would help the county offset the hundreds of millions of dollars through tax abatements lasting 10-20 years (or permanently) lost thanks to Gilman, Sandoval and the equally magnificent Elon Musk.

Services provided to Tesla under the service agreement include:

1. The Fire District will staff and operate a fire department at Storey County Fire Station No. 75 during the term of this Agreement to the following minimum standards:
a. Provide 6 full-time firefighter/paramedic (minimum) staffing level, with 2 personnel working 48 hours on-duty followed by 96 hours off duty;
b. Maintain a minimum of 3 of the 6 personnel at a paramedic level certification, which equates to at least 1 paramedic working for 48 hours on-duty followed by 96 hours off duty;
c. Fire District will maintain this level of staffing unless an emergency exists as declared by the Board of Fire Commissioners;
d. Fire District is responsible for providing adequate and appropriate training for all firefighter, EMS and paramedic personnel at their own expense;
e. Fire District will maintain one ALS equipped ambulance;
f. Fire District will maintain a Type I and/or Type II engine at this fire station;
g. Fire District will be responsible to purchase and maintain all customary and usual EMS gear as is provided in comparable fire departments/districts; and,
h. Fire District will strive to maintain at all times an ISO Public Protection Classification Rating of 3 or less for fire suppression services.

2. Storey County will provide sheriff services for the District.

3. Storey County will provide emergency management services on an as-needed basis for the District.

4. Storey County will provide the following administrative functions for the District:
a. Recording, assessor and appraiser services for real and personal property.

In addition to the above services, Storey County purchased a Ladder Fire Truck with a ladder tall enough to accommodate the ginormity of the Gigafactory. Tesla agreed to pay $93,732 a year for the fire truck which Storey County paid for in cash to the tune of $501,000 in 2015  according to Storey County Controller Hugh Gallagher.

A back of the napkin estimate puts the cost of items 1-4 at roughly $700k in personnel annually and another $4-700k in equipment. I will file a public record request to nail down actual costs from the Storey County Fire District and report the findings to you in a future article.

Tesla Fails to Renew Service Agreement

Section 5b of the service agreement stipulates that Storey County and Tesla will recalibrate the numbers and freshen up the agreement in three-year increments until the sunset of the property tax abatements in 2024. On June 7th, 2018, Nicole Barde reported on bardeblog.com that in the June 5th, 2018 Commission meeting, Pat Whitten provided an update to the Tesla service contract negotiation set to expire on June 30, 2018. “Pat briefly discussed his efforts to get Tesla to sign the $1.2 (actually it’s $1.7) million dollar Government Services Agreement. There was one phone call and there is to be another meeting Thursday, June 7th. He feels confident that they will come to an agreement as to the terms of the Services Agreement.” she wrote.

Tesla, not wanting the microscopic $1.7 million contractual obligation to appear on their balance sheet and SEC filings, blew off negotiations with the county and let the agreement lapse. 18 months later, Elon The Magnificent continues to be unencumbered by both reality and the service agreement.

Upon retirement, County Manager Pat Whitten was handed a $165 an hour good old boy contract to take care of “critical issues” that County Manager Austin Osborne just didn’t have the institutional knowledge or expertise to tackle. The Tesla agreement was one of those critical issues on his list. Sadly, six months later, his institutional knowledge has yet to bear fruit.

Times Change. Service Agreements Don’t.

Tesla’s impact on Storey County has grown as Tesla has grown. Fire calls, Sheriff calls, arrests, and building department inspections continue to rise on in both the Land of the Merry TRICsters and on Electric Avenue over the years. Yet the pricing model in place to cover Tesla’s costs remain at 2015 levels.

The original 2015 service agreement provided a mechanism to adjust the fee structure to accommodate growth at the Gigafactory. Because Elon refuses to renew the contract, they are getting 2020 services at 2015 prices. Any guess who makes up the difference? That’s right, the chumps, err… Storey County taxpayers.

Telsa Drivers aren’t the only people hypnotized by the awesomeness of Tesla. Our fearless County Commission leaders McBride, Gilman, and Carmona are all asleep at the wheel. As taxpayers, we expect our elected officials to fight for and protect the taxpaying residents. Instead, our three musketeers are drowsy little water boys schlepping for Storey County’s favorite global $92 billion welfare recipient.

Tesla Is Our Corporate Deadbeat Dad

According to public records (as revealed by Commissioner Carmona’s most hated tool of transparency, the public record request), Tesla is our deadbeat dad. Their last payment was in Q4 of FY18-19. At the 2015 rate of $417,563.01, this represents $1,252,689.03 of delinquency. Yet we still perform services to them today. Storey County Firefighters stood vigil today over Elon The Magnificent’s Gigafactory last night. County snowplows cleared a path to the Gigafactory this morning after last night’s snowfall.

When Elon misses the next payment due on April 1, 2020, Tesla’s unpaid obligation will represent nearly 10% of Storey County’s FY19-20 budget. Recently Elon the Magnificent was seen dancing on stage for the Communist Chinese Government. Chinese Government-controlled banks loaned him $1.29 billion for Gigafactory3. Unlike Storey County’s bush league musketeers, the Chinese don’t get played like we do. Communist China will repossess Giga3 and all Elon’s IP in a New York minute should he pull this crap on them.

Commissioners Fiddle. Taxpayers Burn.

So there you have it, gentle reader.

Storey County Commissioners fiddle while Tesla burns the taxpayers.

The primaries are in June. Reflect on the two musketeers who lift our skirts for special interests.

Sharpen your touchscreen voting finger.

More to come.

Stay Tuned.

And now a word from our Sponsor:

This article required three separate public record requests and took 10 or more hours to research, write and edit. We accept no advertising but rely on support from you.

It takes a lot of work to keep up with things here in The Richest Place On Earth. Please take a moment to subscribe to receive new articles automatically via email when they hit.

If you already do, thank you, and please ask a friend to do the same.

Like us on Facebook, and if you are feeling generous, consider making a donation to our legal defense fund through gofundme or PayPal by clicking the links below. For those who don’t know we are being sued by Lance The Magnificent for defamation. Go Figure.

The Teller – keeping it real in the 847 since 2017.

General Services Agreement