Lawmakers study plan to turn Laughlin into city

But first they need to overcome objections from the state’s gambling industry, a major utility and even community namesake and founder Don Laughlin.

On Friday, backers and opponents of the plan to incorporate Laughlin testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Government Affairs Committee.

Backers say the Clark County town, about 100 miles south of Las Vegas, lags in economic development because it can’t set its own land use policies.

“This isn’t anything that has been started with the economy, Laughlin has been sliding for a long time,” said longtime Laughlin resident and developer Bob Bilbray.

He blamed extensive Clark County development codes that may work well for the Las Vegas area but are too onerous for builders and lenders who would do business in Laughlin.

It doesn’t help, Bilbray said, that inspectors and other officials who interpret and enforce those codes are a two-hour drive away, in Las Vegas.

“It takes years and years to get permitted just for a little restaurant,” he said. “It is insane.”

The result is the bulk of the economic growth in the area during the last decade happened across the Colorado River in Bullhead City, Ariz., where developers built houses and businesses to meet demand from workers in Laughlin’s casinos. It’s meant that wages were exported from Nevada to generate activity and pay taxes in Arizona, Bilbray said.

Opponents of incorporation, including attorney Hermon Walker from Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort, said they fear the proposed city could fail financially and leave taxpayers to foot the bill.

Walker accused incorporation proponents of putting their own interests first.

“This group says Clark County wastes funds,” Walker said. “I just can’t think of any more waste than creating yet another level of government.”

A lobbyist for NV Energy testified in favor of adding an amendment to ensure the existing franchise between the electric utility and the county that covers the area wouldn’t change if a city were formed.

Morgan Baumgartner, a lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association, warned the subcommittee that a failed incorporation would damage resorts along Casino Drive.

Incorporation is ” a big undertaking,” Baumgartner said . “And we believe our casino corridor will be negatively affected.”

Afterward Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, whose district includes Laughlin, said the new city wouldn’t save county taxpayers any money largely because the resort corridor would remain in the unincorporated county.

“Then we’re going to have to keep all the presence down there anyway,” Sisolak said. “We would have to keep a fire department down there and a police department.”

Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said he proposed Senate Bill 262 because it puts the future of Laughlin in the hands of people who live there.

The bill would require a feasibility study by the Nevada Committee on Local Government Finance in advance of a community vote in November 2012. If approved by voters, the new city could incorporate on July 1, 2013.

“The people of Laughlin should have the right to vote and determine what they are doing,” Hardy said. “But their vote should be an informed vote.”

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.