Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 | 10:44 a.m.
The whirl of a strong economy and year-round sunshine has kept 'em coming -- Nevada is the fastest-growing state in the nation for the 18th consecutive year.
The U.S. Census Bureau released numbers today showing the state grew by 4.1 percent between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004, capping out at 2,334,771 people.
The closest competitor was Arizona, which grew by 3 percent last year and now has 5.7 million residents.
"There's a reason why we're leading the nation in growth -- because Nevada is an attractive place not only to do business but to live," said Greg Bortolin, spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn.
That was the draw for North Las Vegas resident Susan Hromada, who moved with her husband and six kids in March from Deposit, N.Y., a town she described as "very small."
"One lane, one grocery store," she said.
The nearest community college was 45 minutes away from Deposit, but now Hromada said her children have their choice of schools.
"I think there's more opportunity if you don't want to go to college here, as well, to get your foot in the door at a casino and work your way up," said Hromada, who works as a casino security guard.
Eventually, Nevada could grow large enough that it won't lead the country in the percentage change of growth, but many wonder what it would take to stop people from coming to the Silver State.
"It can go on the length of time, obviously, that we have the water to support the growth and can build the houses and apartments to support the people moving in," said Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association. "We have gotten to be on the expensive side."
The state is in the midst of one of the worst droughts on record and will need years of above-average snowfall in the Rockies to trickle down the Colorado and replenish Lake Mead, said Vince Alberta, spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Still, there is hope that Southern Nevadans are more aware of the dwindling water supply, Alberta said. Consumers used 320,000 acre-feet of water in 2002 but lowered that to 270,000 acre-feet in 2003.
And we're expected to use even less this year, he said.
"What it demonstrates is that we can be sustainable as a community if we are smart about how we utilize our water resources," he said.
While Nevada can learn to quench its thirst, it is dealing with the double-edged sword of growth.
"It's an industry that's important to our overall economic health, as important as any other industry we have in the state," said longtime government budget consultant Guy Hobbs, who is a member of the Clark County Growth Task Force.
Growth generates jobs, including better-paying jobs in the construction and support industries, while creating the need for expensive infrastructure and social services and taxing the environment, Hobbs said.
"Bear that in mind when discussing negatives of traffic or air quality," he said.
Land costs are increasing as the supply dwindles, Vilardo said. Land is scarce, forcing people to developments in Pahrump, Mesquite, Overton and Moapa, she said.
And housing costs have increased as out-of-state investors have bought up homes and sold them for profit, driving up costs, she said.
Hromada said she expected a lower cost of living here, though her North Las Vegas home already has appreciated in value.
"Your wages are a little bit more, as with anywhere, but I feel we weren't prepared for how much it was going to cost to live here," she said.
The cost of living is, of course, tied to the cost of government. Some, such as state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, have proposed capping government spending growth, perhaps even linking growth limits to inflation and the rate of population growth.
But it's difficult to tell how much new residents will cost, Hobbs said. The fastest-growing segments of the population are children in K-12 education and senior citizens, he said.
"Those are the two that consume some of the more extensive services that are provided -- education and health care," Hobbs said.
Clark County, the nation's fifth-largest school district with more than 280,000 students, has seen enrollment growth between 4 and 7 percent in each of the last 10 years.
The district is in the middle of a $3.5 billion capital improvement plan that includes building more than 80 new schools and renovating older facilities.
And while the district has accelerated construction schedules to deal with surging enrollment, school district officials predict they will run out of elementary school classroom space by 2007 -- a year before the current voter-approved bond measure expires.
The district expects to go back to voters in 2006 for support to continue -- and possibly expand -- its construction of new schools as well as modernization of older campuses.
That's just one issue the state must cope with as the moving trucks keep rolling in, said Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas.
"It's a nice place to live and it will be such a nice place to live until all of the sudden it's not nice," Coffin said. "It's kind of a scary thing."
The need to plan for that has prompted not only the Clark County Growth Task Force but also a new Growth Committee in the Assembly, to be led by Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson.
Growth is diversifying the economy, which also will change the dynamic in this formerly "monopolistic" economy that was dominated before by the gaming industry, said state Demographer Jeff Hardcastle.
"The things that made for our growth -- the job creation and competitiveness we've had, that's all changing," Hardcastle said. "How that settles out and goes forward is somewhat unknown right now."
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