Nye Commissioner suggests state’s largest county be trimmed

Thursday, Jan. 14, 1999 | 3:20 a.m.

Carver, who once fought the federal government over control of public lands in Nevada, now wants to trim the size of his domain. At 11.6 million acres, Nye is the largest of Nevada's 17 counties and the second-largest in the United States.

"I hate to see Nye County split up, but things have changed," said Carver, who will see the rural areas lose seats on the commission after the 2000 census is completed.

The most drastic change is the growth of Pahrump, on the south end of the county. What was once a tiny tranquil town now has 20,000 residents, many of them fleeing the growth of Las Vegas, 50 miles to the east.

Nye County's population was 23,147 in 1994.

Carver is proposing that Tonopah, population 3,100, become part of Esmerelda County, which currently has about 1,400 residents. Pahrump would then replace Tonopah as the Nye county seat.

"We're rural, what do we have in common with Pahrump?" he said.

Three of the five county commissioners are from rural districts, but that will change after the census.

Carver's other suggestions include making the eastern part of Nye - including Duckwater and Currant - part of White Pine County, or moving extreme northwest Nye County land, including the town of Gabbs, into Churchill County.

Fellow commissioner Cameron McRae, who represents the Pahrump area, said there "might be some sense" in realigning county boundaries, "but it makes more sense to remove politics from it."

There was never a concern about county boundaries when Pahrump was a tiny town, but things have changed as the town grew.

"Now all of a sudden we're incompatible?" McRae asked.

It's not financially sound to have two county seats located so close together, Carver told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Goldfield, Esmerelda's county seat, is 25 miles south of Tonopah

"I can't leave the courthouse and go have lunch without ending up in Esmerelda County," Carver said. "The Tonopah cemetery and the sewer system is in Esmerelda. We don't need two sheriff's departments that close together."

Carver said he has no preference as to whether the Esmerelda County seat is in Tonopah or Goldfield.

He said the only county funds generated from Pahrump that don't go right back into the town are landfill fees.

"The only way (border realignment) will work is if Pahrump is self-sufficient," Carver said. "It may not be self-sufficient today, but tomorrow it might be. It's time to talk about it."

He said discussions between the Esmerelda and Nye commissions could occur as early as next week when the Nye commission meets in Beatty.

McRae said the political power structure for 100 years has been based in Tonopah and that Carver simply fears surrendering that power to Pahrump. McRae contends that if the courthouse in Tonopah is too close to that in Goldfield, it's the fault of the Nye commissioners who voted to build the $15 million structure, which opened in 1995.

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett said the majority of cases, witnesses and jurors in Nye County come from the Pahrump area. He said there is a strain on resources to make the 2 1/2 -hour drive to Tonopah, especially for hearings that take only a few minutes.

"There's a lot of southern support" for a courthouse in Pahrump, Beckett said. "As far as changing the county lines, I'll leave that to the big boys."