Counties: We're cooperating to deal with growth

The battles of Carson City and Douglas are legendary, from competition for retailers to water, but Carson,Douglas and Lyon county officials say the perception of widespread disagreement is false.

"We cooperate in 17 areas,"Dan Holler, Douglas County manager, said during an economic forecasting event in Minden a few days ago.

"It's big news when there's disagreement, but you don't hear about the areas where we cooperate."

Added Carson City Mayor Marv Teixeira, "We need a set of rules good for the total region.We can't stand alone.We must stand regionally."

To that end, a tri-county compact is under development to establish guidelines, says Teixeira.

The compact would go together in pieces, to deal with one issue then move on to the next piece, says Teixeira.

For instance,water issues could be addressed by a committee of county representatives and people who hold the water rights.

"We all connect.We want to erase those county lines and all work together," the Carson City mayor said.

But Holler added,"I don't see a full-blown formal compact.

I see us working on issues together, but on an issue-by-issue basis.We're still independent in our planning and zoning decisions.We will not cede that authority to another county."

For example, while he acknowledged that Dayton hosts more affordable housing than Douglas County,Holler said Douglas County will make its own decision whether to change its mix.

The three counties plus neighboring Storey County already present a unified face before the state Legislature.

They jointly sponsored a legislative reception the day after the legislature came into session,with 300 people attending.

Each Friday, Lyon County Manager Donna Kristaponis meets with Holler, Carson City Manager Linda Ritter and Mary Walker, a lobbyist hired to monitor 15 bills the tri-county consortium is running.

The counties are unified in opposition to a bill setting a state average salary as a benchmark against which companies are measured to qualify for jobs-creation grants.Wages paid at most jobs in rural counties can't compete with mining industry jobs and casino executive salaries in Clark County, both of which skew statewide average wage figures, says Kristaponis.

"Legislatively, state issues impact us all the same," says Holler.

For instance, because of wildfire danger, the counties will work together to urge the state to raise the fire protection emergency fund cap from $250,000 to $1 million.

"We have a lot of commonalities and issues," says Holler.

For instance, he said,"No county has the wherewithal to deal with overarching issues like juvenile services." To that end, the counties cooperate to oversee operation of the Western Nevada Regional Youth Center in Silver Springs, a facility to provide schooling and counseling for teens in trouble with the law.

The counties are talking about possibilities of a shared wastewater treatment plant, says Kristaponis."We must work on water as a group." The Carson River is a natural resource that physically intersects regions.Any use of the river impacts upstream and downstream, said Kelly Kite,Douglas County commissioner.

Carson River water is adjudicated by the Alpine Decree, drawn up in the early 1900s, which laid down first rights to water that originates in the high Sierra and vanishes into the Carson Sink.

Pressures on water supplies come all along the river's route as Alpine County is having a growth boom, too.However, the U.S.

Forest Service controls most of the land so Alpine County has little room for further development, said Kite.

Holler,meanwhile, said some water-related proposals are unlikely to win support from his county.

"We will not agree on a proposed groundwater transfer pipeline to serve houses in another county,"he said.

However,Douglas County has already designed preliminary plans to connect water tanks in north Douglas County and Carson City to provide redundancy should one system go down and to provide water for fire fighting.

Transportation is another area of cooperation, says Ritter.A proposed transit system, slated to start bus service this fall if approved by the Carson City board of supervisors,will extend its Carson City route into northern Douglas County to serve the big-box shopping area.

A key element in the counties' cooperation comes in the field of economic development.

"My goal for the past eight years is to market us to businesses coming in as a regional area.

The idea is to get them into northern Nevada," said Kite."The best way to do that is through the Northern Nevada Development Authority.Director Ron Weisinger is well aware of the benefits of all the areas, including Reno."

Weisinger said no favoritism is shown to any county or city when business and industry inquires about moving in."We facilitate; we respond to companies.We let the counties present themselves." Companies contact the Northern Nevada Development Authority with a list of requirements, such as whether they want to buy or lease and the square footage they need.

"We send requirements to the real estate community and as info comes in to us,we forward it to the client," said Weisinger.

"Companies work through the NNDA to avoid being buried by information sent by real estate agents."

Counties in other states may offer tax incentives, but in Nevada, tax abatement must be approved by the state.

Nevada already has the best incentives: no corporate, personal, or inventory taxes, says Weisinger.

A final area of agreement is that water will be the area of disagreement."There will always be competition over some things, such as water, says Teixeira."But the overall climate is good."