The court also questioned whether a proposed ballot question that could make every resident in Boulder City a millionaire usurps a power reserved to the City Council.

Hardesty wondered aloud whether the proposal would lead to other citizen ballot initiatives that essentially would "eliminate representative government in Nevada."

Hardesty said voters could end up deciding "when and which potholes on certain streets would be fixed" or even what type of uniform police would wear.

The court did not make an immediate decision on whether the Boulder City land sale question should be placed on the general election ballot.

A group called the Coalition to Protect the Future of Boulder secured more than 1,000 signatures in June to place four ballot questions on the general election ballot. In one question, voters would decide whether to sell off 107,000 acres of land in Eldorado Valley.

A trust, whose members would include Sherman Rattner, the man who led the petition drive, would decide whether to sell land and how to dispense proceeds.

But voters also could back questions to block any future development of the property.

Rattner has estimated the land could fetch $15 billion to $50 billion, enough to give each of the 15,200 residents between $987,000 and $3.2 million.

But last month, District Judge Kathy Hardcastle pulled the question off the ballot, prompting Rattner's appeal.

His attorney, Travis Chandler, said Wednesday that "the power belongs to the people if they choose to exercise it." But attorney Paul Larsen, representing the city, contended land sales are administrative acts which are a function of the City Council.