230 



Testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks 



and i^orests 



Lenard Smith, Lincoln County, Nevada Commissioner 



Page 3 



LINCOLN COUNTY ECONOMICS ' 



Lincoln County is severely affected in it's^economyby a 

 series of reversals. Mining, which brought early day prosperity, is 

 all but gone. There Isn't a single actively operating mine in the 

 county at this time. Agriculture, which has been the long-term, 

 stabilizing factor, is now operating less than a tenth of it's capa- 

 city and on the verge of bankruotcy. The railroad used Lincoln County 

 as it's division point with a full scale operation center. It has now 

 modernized and moved out and presently only hire a skeleton crew. The 

 major Alaska - Mexico route, U.S. 93, formerly traversed the length of 

 the county. Due to modifications it now by-passes the majority of 

 the county resulting in a loss of tourism trade. 



Regardless of the overwhelming odds we are working valiantly, long and 

 hard to improve our condition. We have formed an Economic Development 

 Task Force, led by Ms. Shelly Wadsworth , who is with me today to help 

 explain the economics of Lincoln County. 



GOVERNMENT WUHOOT TAXING AUHKRITY 



I and iny <X)lleagvies are striving to run a government of 6,800,000 acsnes with a 



taxing authority over only about 1% of the area. I ask how mary governments can 



survive under those circumstances? 13iis year the only way wa could avoid a deficit 



situation was to reduce budgets of many d^artments and ^sending the last mixith 



because of a cash-flow problem. Private land and a tax base is a primary ingredient 



to successful administration emd eoononic growth. For eooncmic growth our people need 



jobs. For jobs we need private land and industry. 



WHAT IS A JOB WORTH? 



A newspaper article under the heading of "ALAPM" said that "Nevada's getting 

 nothing out of it (the Aerojet Land Exchange) but the potential for maybe a thousand 

 jobs." Ihis statement, which scoffs that jobs for people are not inportant, is a 

 twist of irony that their northern friends cannot conpn^end. "Dieir rxmwmities do 



