In 1918 Romanzo Adams published “Taxation in Nevada, A History”. In his forward, Adams wrote, “The subject of taxation is not necessarily so abstract and technical that it is devoid of interest to the ordinary citizen. This monograph is written, not primarily for the specialist, but for the citizen, and the writer has tried to attain a style that will not detract from such interest as may inhere in the subject.” The book chronicled the development of taxation policy in the state of Nevada from pre-statehood days to the turn of the 20^th Century. Beyond its obvious focus on taxation policy, the book also chronicled the development of what could be termed the “Nevada Economy”. Dominated by mining, and to a lesser extent agriculture, the Nevada Economy of Romanzo’s time is surprisingly not unlike the Nevada Economy today in the 21^st Century. Mining remains a dominant economic engine for the majority of Nevada communities and agriculture also remains a central cornerstone of the economies of Nevada’s rural counties. In the more “urban” counties of Clark and Washoe, gaming and tourism came dominate with the rise of Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. As Romanzo argued, and many do so today, Nevada’s economy has largely remained a “one-industry” economy in many of our local communities. Most importantly, Romanzo wrote his observations to help citizens throughout the infant Nevada have a better understanding of public taxation and economic development policy in their own local communities.

But with the spread of Indian Gaming – in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and Idaho – and the spread of gaming abroad in markets like South East Asia and with mining be so subject to the “boom and bust” cycle, can Nevada remain economically competitive? Can the “Nevada Economy” of today, or should I say the Nevada Economy of yesterday, deliver the goods and services demanded by a radically different population with diverse needs today?

Nevada is not a small state anymore. The days of the wild, wild west are gone and although some have termed Northern Nevada as “America’s Adventure Place”, it is an adventure place with air conditioning, sport utility vehicles, expensive gear and $200 a night dinners. With the wealth of a “grown up state”, there comes plenty of bad with plenty of good. Local jurisdictions are flush with new sources of sales tax revenue and property tax revenue as Nevada’s population has grown tremendously and median family incomes are up. But so are the number of homeless people living in our communities and so are the number of methamphetamine addicts and so are the number of inmates in Nevada jails and prisons and Nevada still lags behind almost all other states in the performance of our public schools.

Economic development means many different things to many people. Small business development, job training, redevelopment and urban revitalization, tourism development, housing development, the upgrading and expansion of key infrastructure including airports, rail-ports and freeways, and the development and protection of Nevada’s vital natural resources are all aspects of economic development Nevadans as a whole have to explore and pursue to remain competitive in this new century. But economic development is much more than just dollars and cents, spending here and investing there.

Economic development at the local level and the state level is greatly impacted by a number of forces including public policy decisions our elected officials at the federal, state and local level pursue. It is affected by the type of education offered to Nevada students at the K through 12 level as well as the college and university levels. It is influenced by the values our communities hold sacred. It is influenced by the number of people we incarcerate. It is influenced by the weather and it is also influenced on what we fail to do. It is my hope that this blog can provide some insight into how Nevadans could pursue economic development. Who benefits? Who pays the price of pursuing economic development? (Yes, there is a cost to economic development.) What strategies should we pursue in lieu of others given limited financial, human and natural resources? These are the topics and the questions I hope to explore with all of you.

In 2001, nearly 100 years after Romanzo Adam’s 1918 publication, Frank Partlow wrote and published, “Observation Point” where he chronicled his “reflections” on the political and economic “goings-on” of northern Nevada. Partlow’s forward concluded with the following statement: “My hope is that these reflections from my observation point on local government here in northern Nevada will help citizens throughout the New West better understand public policy in their own local communities.” Sound familiar?

In my own way, I hope to add to Partlow’s observations and help citizens throughout the “New West” – our New Nevada – better understand economic development policy in their own local communities in relation to the many issues that face us collectively today.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 10:21 am and is filed under Economic Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.