Laughlin Inc.: Some want their town to become a city

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

Clark County could be home to a new city within a couple of years.

Some residents of Laughlin -- a booming riverside community in southern Clark County -- are lobbying to carve a new city from the desert.

As it is now, Laughlin doesn't really exist, at least politically. Clark County officials make decisions on what services are needed and where to put them, and control land-use policy.

A city government would put the town's destiny in the hands of the people who live there, advocates argue. The community is far from united behind the idea, but advocates say they have numbers and time on their side.

"We hope to have everything done by July 2002," said Tom Montgomery, chairman of a citizens group working to incorporate.

Montgomery said a few years ago the proposal wouldn't have been warmly received, but that is changing as the population and economic investment boom.

"We hope that we have a majority of people behind us. I think we do," he said. "We're getting a tremendous amount of support."

Advocates for city status admit that it won't be easy. Supporters of incorporation and Clark County staff are analyzing Laughlin's financial structure.

In one scenario to become a city, the financial stability of the would-be city has to be determined before the issue can go before voters. A state panel would judge the finances of the community.

"It's a real movement, and the county needs to cooperate with the folks that are looking at it and give them any information they need," said Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, whose district includes Laughlin. "I've spent a lot of time working on Laughlin issues, but I don't live in Laughlin.

"I understand the desire to have more local control of everything," he said.

Woodbury said he wants to leave it up to the people to determine their fate, but pointed out that the community has benefited from the county's political oversight.

"The county has poured an awful lot of money into Laughlin in the last two decades and has made the economic development of Laughlin a priority," Woodbury said.

John Haldeman, a Laughlin Town Advisory Board member, is taking a wait-and-see attitude on the incorporation issue.

He said most people like the idea of guiding their own destiny.

"But there are some real downsides to self-rule," he warned.

Haldeman, who moved in about 13 years ago, said that sweetheart deals and political chicanery might be more likely when the government is closer to the people. He worries that long-term planning might be swept aside if Laughlin runs its own planning services.

"There are some real advantages and disadvantages with both (self-rule and county oversight)," he said. "If we can self-rule and hopefully be intelligent enough to keep some long-term planning, I think we can do really well."

Advocates for a change say the town's 10 casinos and residential developments should provide the necessary tax base to fund city services at the same level that the county provides.

Joe Marr, who became a member of the Laughlin Town Advisory Board this year, believes the town can and should become a city.

Marr is an outspoken booster for more growth around the community, but the opportunities for large-scale residential and commercial development are limited by the lack of available land.

"We're completely surrounded by (Bureau of Land Management) land," he said. "If we can get that, we can build more homes.

"We're landlocked right now," Marr said. "I believe in growth."

Advocates believe that Laughlin is sending more money to the county than it gets back in services.

"Every dollar of revenue that comes into this town, we never see," Marr said. "It all goes into the county seat in Las Vegas."

The residents are "beholden to county commissioners for services," he said.

Those that are wary of changing the present political arrangement are concerned that taxes may go up. Not so, advocates say.

"We don't anticipate property taxes going up at all," Montgomery, a six-year resident, said. The new city could also deliver services as least as well as the county, he added.

But not everyone is convinced that Laughlin has the tax base to maintain the community's services.

"I think it's a little premature," said Don Laughlin, who developed Laughlin's Riverside Resort in the late 1960s when virtually nobody lived on the Nevada side of the Colorado River.

Since Laughlin started the ball rolling with his casino, nine big casinos have been established in the community.

Laughlin said he is concerned that city status would simply add taxes and another layer of bureaucracy on property owners in the town. Services and land-use guidance are sufficient as they are, he said.

"I don't think we have any problem with the way Clark County is handling it," Laughlin said.

Laughlin's name is synonymous with the town's history. He said it was the U.S. Postal Service that tagged the post office with his name.

If the town officially becomes a city, it will be the latest step in a remarkably short history, even by Southern Nevada standards. According to Clark County's history, the community had only 95 residents in 1984.

But according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town had 2,069 residents by 1990 and the population swelled to 7,076 last year -- a 242 percent increase over the last decade.

Many workers at the town's casinos don't even live in Laughlin, but across the river in Arizona. Mohave County had 155,000 people last year, the Census Bureau reported. About 60,000 people live within 10 miles of Laughlin and Bullhead City, Ariz.

Economic development officials in Arizona say the growth engine for the entire region is Laughlin.

But in the last few years the region has faced some challenges, particularly competition from gambling in Arizona and California. Some Nevada legislators are trying to find state money to improve roads outside Nevada that bring tourists to the riverside resort town -- which some analysts say is critical in keeping Laughlin's economy healthy.

But despite those issues, Debbie Dauenhauer, a Laughlin Town Board member and chairwoman of the public safety committee, said growth will continue.

She is in the middle on the question of Laughlin incorporating. Dauenhauer would like to have local police and fire services, and said those services could respond more quickly to events and with greater attention to local needs than county services do now.

But like other residents, she doesn't want to give away the county services until she knows that the city can stand on its own.

"I believe the day we can do it without increasing taxes is the day we should do it," Dauenhauer said. "It will one day definitely happen. It's just a question of when."

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