[media id=2 width=320 height=240]
Once the fastest growing city in the state, West Wendover’s population shrank by largest rate and was just one of three Nevada cities to show a drop in population in the 2010 census.
West Wendover earned the fastest growing title in 2000 when it recorded more than 50 percent increase in the population from the 1990 census. A lot can happen in ten years.
According to the census there are now 4,410 people in Wendover a drop of 6.6 percent from the 4,721 counted in 2000 and more importantly a drop of more than 10 percent from its estimated population of a bout 5,000 from the state demographers office.
More than titles are at stake in population numbers. West Wendover share in a number of state funds is either directly or indirectly determined on a per capita basis. Fewer people mean fewer dollars and the city is already strapped for cash.
Just two weeks ago informed sources told the Advocate that layoffs, pay cuts or tax increases could be on the agenda of the West Wendover City Council as the Nevada/Utah border town grapples with a budget deficit said to be massive by informed sources.
“If the deficit was a hole you would need a ladder to climb out of it now,” said one source. “Our rainy day fund will be completely depleted and we will still be a couple of hundred thousand dollars in the red and this is before the state raids us for any spare revenue we have.”
The Advocate was also able to confirm that Mayor Donnie Andersen sent a letter to all city employees asking for their help and/or suggestions on how the city could cut from the budget without having to resort to layoffs or tax hikes, the implication being cuts in pay at the very least could be in the offing.
While refusing to confirm or deny the substance of the letter or the size of the deficit this week Andersen did say that this is one of those times when he wished he wasn’t right.
Elected in 2008 Andersen ran and won on a platform of fiscal responsibility and repeatedly railed against out of control spending as Mayor.
Andersen’s warnings were however ignored by the council which often by overriding the Mayor’s veto continued to approve capitol improvement projects and pay hikes to city employees despite having to dip into the city’s emergency reserve fund to make monthly ends meet.
A declining population also means it will be even more difficult for West Wendover to pull its way out of the recession.
A city’s population growth rate is one of the first statistics developers, banks and businesses look at when seeking to invest in a community. A declining rate especially in a state like Nevada which even during the Great Recession reported significant growth is not attractive.
Even before the census numbers came out there have been signs that all was not well with the city’s once booming population. School enrollment figures have fallen six of the last eight years and vacancies in the city’s apartment complexes have increased.
There has also been very little if any development in the past five years with the major exception being public paid for projects such as the new city hall.
Part of the population decline is a self inflicted wound at the behest of the large gaming industry the West Wendover City Council instituted a ban in 2008 on all new casino projects that did not include at least 150 hotel rooms.
That ban at least indirectly forced the bankruptcy of at least one development, the Rusty Palms and may have dissuaded other small casino developers from even attempting to grow with West Wendover.
West Wendover’s population decline has also spilled across the border into Wendover, Utah. The much smaller sister city also reported a decline of about 10 percent.
The Utah side of town however does not have anywhere near the budget problems facing its larger sister.
“We have a much smaller workforce and we don’t spend more than what we have,” said City Administrator Glenn Wadsworth last month.