NEVADA BUSINESS COALITION

Politicians have an uncontrollable urge to do something in response to any unusual event. But too often they end up doing something that makes the problem worse or that creates an entirely different set of problems. And often these new problems are worse than the one they were trying to fix.

The collapse of the housing market and the glut of foreclosures in Las Vegas resulted in a profusion of abandoned homes. Some people have complained about abandoned homes in disrepair that are both unsightly and can be an invitation to squatters and vandals. To address this, the City of Las Vegas passed an ordinance requiring banks to register and maintain abandoned homes on which they have filed notices of default (NOD), the first step in the foreclosure process. But, as is often the case, this law has created a new set of problems.

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Ask around Las Vegas, especially in the corridors of City Hall and the streets of downtown, and people will sing the praises of Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos. The company’s move to the Las Vegas Valley several years ago was celebrated. And Hsieh rescued the City from its ill-advised and misguided decision to build a brand-new City Hall in the depths of the recession by inking a deal to take over the old one.

Hsieh has played a huge role in downtown redevelopment and pledged to invest even more in efforts to revitalize the area. In some ways he has replaced former Mayor Oscar Goodman as unofficial ambassador for the City. Hsieh and Zappos have brought investment dollars, jobs and energy, elements that had been lacking recently, to downtown Las Vegas.

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The Roadhouse Casino has been forced to delay its remodeling and reopening plans as its fight against one of the gaming Goliaths continues. The Roadhouse is the casino on Boulder Highway in Henderson whose gaming license has been challenged by a competitor that doesn’t want the competition.

The renovation and eventual opening of the Roadhouse could be just the shot in the arm that area of Henderson needs to get moving again. The company estimates it will spend about $2.3 million on the renovation, which will involve adding a restaurant and several other interior and exterior features. That spending will include $1 million in construction labor. In addition, it predicts the casino and restaurant will create more than $17 million in new spending annually.

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An improving economy has generated nearly $60 million above revenue estimates for Nevada’s state government in recent months, according to figures released by the state’s Economic Forum.

The Economic Forum, which provides the revenue projections lawmakers are required to use in creating the state’s budget, revealed that tax collections were more than $21 million above the Forum’s estimates for the last few months of Fiscal Year 2011, which ended on June 30. The state’s economy has also generated just under $38 million more in tax revenue than predicted in the first five months of FY 2012.

In the past, state government gobbled up and spent additional revenues, which was partly responsible for massive increases in expenditures during boom years. It is up to us, the taxpayers, to make sure the state does not repeat that mistake in the current recovery.

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Before another politician makes a statement claiming that regulations don’t do any economic harm, he needs to talk to Buddy Byrd.

Byrd got his first contractors license in 1984 when he was 24 years old. He built Byrd Underground up to 65 employees by 2006, at the peak of Southern Nevada’s building boom.

The company, which he describes as “a full-A civil contractor” that performs grading, paving, concrete, digs trenches and installs utilities such as electrical, water and sewer, fell to sixteen employees recently although he has added two new people since.

But if certain new regulations are allowed to take effect in 2014, he is concerned that Byrd Underground, after surviving the collapse of the local construction market, may become a casualty of federal government overregulation.

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Nevada’s Modified Business Tax (MBT) ranks right up there as one the worst ideas ever devised by mankind.

Okay, maybe that’s just a bit of an exaggeration. But not much.

It punishes employers for employing workers, which is why even members of the left have declared it “hurts small business and hampers job creation.” Yet it still survives.

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A small Elko contractor targeted by a Union will be slugging it out with the Union in court. A judge in Reno has set a December 6 court date for Mach 4 Construction to have its case heard against Operating Engineers Local 3.

The company was unable to come to a settlement agreement with the Union and its Trust Funds earlier this week. The Union once again was unwilling to agree to accept amounts that would allow Mach 4 to stay in business. Judge David Hicks also dismissed the Union’s motion for summary judgment and set the date to hear the case at trial.

Mach 4 will be claiming “unclean hands” on the part of the Union in the dispute. This defense alleges the Union and its Trust Funds have acted unethically or in bad faith.

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A couple years ago, Clark County was first named a Judicial Hellhole. The state of Nevada could be on its way to being the nation’s first Lending Hellhole.

The pendulum swings all the way to one side, then all the way to the other, never stopping in the middle. So it is with Nevada’s overreaction to the loosey-goosey days of easy money.

The Silver State is creating taxpayer-backed business loan programs because “banks aren’t lending,” while at the same time making it more difficult for lenders to survive in the state.

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The media was all abuzz last week with the release of the Economic Development Agenda for Nevada by Brookings Mountain West. The plan is now in the hands of the state’s policymakers, who would do well to look closely before blindly adopting its recommendations.

It does contain some good ideas – enhancing the business development data available to businesses and assisting the state’s “exporters through the ins and outs of selling abroad”. The report deviates from liberal orthodoxy in some places, for example, advocating for real alternative licensure and merit-based pay for math and science teachers. It also cites as a constraint on businesses in the state the difficulty and delays caused by the land-use and permitting policies of the various federal agencies that own 87% of Nevada’s land.

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A small contractor from Elko is continuing its fight against a union that the company claims is trying to force it out of business. As we discussed previously, Mach 4 Construction is a general contractor that signed what it believed to be a one-year contract with the Operating Engineers Local 3 in 2007. The union has rejected Mach 4’s attempts to terminate the agreement and maintains the company has been subject to the contract to the present day.

Federal Judge Larry Hicks has set a December 6 trial date to hear the case. One of the items at issue in the trial is whether or not Mach 4 was subject to the union agreement after the company delivered its notice to terminate the contract in 2008.

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