2 Towns’ Great Divide

Residents of this debt-ridden desert town say life here has gotten so bad, they’d rather live in Nevada.

And Utah officials are open to sloughing the town off.

The question is whether Nevada wants it.

By rejiggering the state line just a smidgen, Wendover could be united with its prospering sister border town of West Wendover, Nev.--and it could reap all the benefits that Nevada’s gambling economy has to offer.

(There is so little to Wendover that Bob Hope once quipped it should be renamed “Leftover.”)

Over here on the Utah side, dilapidated mobile homes are occupied by the lowest-paid casino workers, property values are so low that it’s nearly impossible to get loans, motels rely on the overflow from Nevada hotels and pocked roads need asphalt.

But down the street, past the state line marked as a broad white stripe across Wendover Boulevard, gamblers are welcomed by twin shimmering sentinels--the State Line and Silver Smith casinos. Beyond three other casinos and assorted businesses, neighborhoods with wide streets and sidewalks have sprouted around a golf course.

The new homes are occupied largely by Utahans, who fled Wendover for better housing and to claim residency in a state free of personal income tax. From 1990 to 2000, according to recent census figures, Wendover’s population increased from 1,127 to 1,537--while West Wendover more than doubled in size, going from 2,007 residents to 4,721 in the same period.

Those who can’t afford to move to the Nevada side still play in its well-equipped parks and buy groceries in its supermarket, where there’s no sales tax on food.

The state line separates more than lifestyle. The two communities have their own city councils and fire departments, and they are served by their own police officers, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers.

For years, the states unified the two towns’ education systems--with Utah sending its elementary students to West Wendover, and Nevada sending its older students to Wendover. But with Utah spending only about $3,000 per student and Nevada spending about $7,000 per student, Nevada officials decided that their students were getting a raw deal and ended the pact.

Today, each town has its own schools, and Utah struggles to find teachers willing to work in Wendover--where they are paid about $10,000 less a year than their Nevada counterparts. Such are the problems faced by a community when a state line runs through it. And given Utah’s conservative Mormon influences and Nevada’s affinity for the wild side, no other state border towns stand in such contrast.

Despite the Mormon influence, casino executives say 99% of their business comes from Utah residents. Every month, about 300,000 of them stream here, 120 miles west of Salt Lake City, crossing the Bonneville Salt Flats that still bear the wagon wheel tracks of the Donner Party.

Wendover was founded in 1906 as a railroad town, where westbound steam engines would load water so they could wend over the nearby mountains. West Wendover started developing in the 1970s with the arrival of big casinos, and government land was purchased by housing developers.

Combining the two towns into one, says Wendover mayor and motel owner Steve Perry, would allow the consolidation of city services and schools and--with a larger population base--draw more state and federal government support.

“But the real gain,” he said, “is that we would become one community, not two.”

His counterpart in Nevada, Reese Melville, says he is generally supportive of the unification--but he adds that the financial risks to his city need to be evaluated. “No one wants to take on more debt.”

Among the issues: control of Wendover’s old military airfield, where Col. Paul W. Tibbets trained his crew before dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

West Wendover covets control of the airport as an anchor to an industrial and air cargo complex. But Utah’s Tooele County is reluctant to lose it--and its potential revenue.

Such issues would have to be resolved by the two city councils, the county commissions in Elko, Nev., and Tooele, and the two legislatures. The entire process, and congressional approval, is expected to take at least five years.

Both sides hope that the federal government will pay off an estimated $20 million in bonded indebtedness faced by Wendover’s water system, the airport and the school district.

In fact, Wendover tried to solve its woes all on its own by asking the Utah Legislature 12 years ago to approve gambling in the city. Surprisingly, the bill passed through one panel before it abruptly was shot down by incredulous lawmakers.

Debate about moving the state line surfaces every few years. The effort is gaining steam this time because it has the support of Reps. James V. Hansen (R-Utah) and Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.). “Wendover is a tiny town struggling on the fringe of Utah, with limited economic resources,” said Hansen’s legislative director, Bill Johnson. “Wendover doesn’t have its own critical mass, and never will.”

Utah state Sen. Ron Allen, a Democrat who represents Wendover, said he and Hansen hope to marshal bipartisan support for Wendover’s move to Nevada.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the socioeconomic stratification that is taking place there,” Allen said. “I’d like to see the unification, and there’s very little opposition to it.”

Cynics point out that Utah politicians have little to lose in ceding Wendover to Nevada--given that the town, whose population is about 70% Latino, has about 300 registered voters.

Gibbons supports the idea of shifting the state line, said his spokeswoman, Amy Spanbauer. But he’ll promote it only if it receives local support.

Randomly queried West Wendover residents aren’t sure what they have to gain--except Wendover’s problems.

“I don’t see that there’s much to gain except for the motels’ room tax,” said Don Symes, who came to Wendover 22 years ago for a casino job and moved into a brand new home in West Wendover three years ago. “If the people over in Utah want to live in Nevada, they can move over, just like me.”

Elko County Commissioner Warren Russell acknowledged that Nevada would have little to gain immediately by taking control of Wendover. But he sees great potential for economic development if the two small cities merge.

“If Wendover were in Nevada, the opportunities for business and development would explode,” he said. “And I see the people of Wendover as an asset to Nevada.

West Wendover’s casino industry, however, is stridently opposed to a line shift--fearing it would mean more competition. Even the prospect of a dozen slot machines in the lobby of a Wendover hotel raises the industry’s hackles.

Says Kathy Behle, who owns the Heritage Motel in Wendover: “Sure I’d put some slot machines in the lobby. That may help people decide to stay with me.

“But mostly, I want us to be one big community. I’ve seen so much bickering over the years--the Them versus Us attitude--because of that state line.”