Lawmakers say businesses need more than tax breaks

It's going to take more than tax abatements, clever slogans and promising talk to bring economic diversity to Southern Nevada, a panel of experts said Thursday at Directions 2011.

Legislators are tired of giving tax incentives to businesses relocating from other states and seeing no return on it, Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, said at the economic forum sponsored by the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Las Vegas Business Press.

Local municipalities and state agencies need to formulate a more cohesive effort to foster growth in key industry clusters such as information technology, manufacturing and renewable energy, Kirkpatrick said.

She also said the state is missing out on business growth because of its arcane system for issuing business licenses and permits.

"If you're a pool company in North Las Vegas and you want to clean a pool in Las Vegas, you need another license. If you want to clean a pool in Henderson, you need another license," Kirkpatrick told an audience of about 150 at Texas Station.

Kirkpatrick said one businessman was "out of business before he went into business" because it took him 18 months to get the proper permits and start work. Meanwhile, the economy tanked.

"We're working more with everybody to have a focus," Kirkpatrick said.

Economic development is a recurring theme in Southern Nevada, but it hasn't worked out as well as everyone would have liked over the years, said Mike PeQueen, chairman-elect for the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

Consultant Tom Skancke of The Skancke Co. said "sustainability" is an overused word today, but the reality is eveyone is struggling to stay in businesses.

"We thought it was just us, but it was everywhere," he said. "It's global. Sen. (Harry) Reid told me we were on our way back if weren't for Greece."

Skancke likes Kirkpatrick's idea of developing inland ports in Nevada.

Phoenix and Denver are seen as competition for Las Vegas, when in reality, Las Vegas should partner with those cities to create a nexus of infrastructure for importing cargo, he said.

Skancke is on board with Assembly Bill 449. Passed by the Nevada Legislature in June, the bill created the Office of Economic Development to establish a "catalyst" fund to provide grants and loans to regional agencies for the purpose of economic development.

Five Western states -- Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado -- account for 30 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, Skancke said.

He talked about Interstate 11, which would run from Phoenix through Las Vegas to Seattle, being a critical part of Nevada's inland port development.

"Our power lies in the connectivity of the regional West, and we're not taking advantage of that," Skancke said. "When we go to Congress, we should ask for $10 million instead of $2 million here and $2 million there. Why should we be competing with each other? Let's create a new regional vision."

Skancke said 45 percent of the goods that come into the port in Long Beach, Calif., are shipped to points east of the Mississippi River, either by rail or train.

Southern Nevada imports 80 percent of its goods from Long Beach, he said.

Kirkpatrick said North Las Vegas has a huge industrial corridor and foreign trade zone, yet nothing is being done with it.

"We've got some potential folks in place, and we've got some foreign folks looking," she said.

While Southern Nevada is often said to lack an educated workforce, one audience member pointed out that with unemployment at 14 percent, there are cab drivers with sociology degrees.

But panelist John Restrepo, principal of RCG Economics, said there's a difference.

"Where we lack is not high school or college degrees. Where we lack is science and engineering degrees," Restrepo said. "There's a brain drain. We don't have employment for them, so they leave. They go to California."

Kirkpatrick, a North Las Vegas native and a product of Clark County schools, said the region has plenty of talent.

"I talked to a company who said they would have to bring all 35 of their employees because we don't have qualified people," Kirkpatrick said.

"I said, 'I'll get you those 35 people tomorrow, believe me.' You should be able to go to the unemployment office and say, 'Give me 10 people.' That's one of our faults. We have tons of assets in Clark County and we need to work together better to get people into those jobs," she said.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.