The Storey Teller News and commentary on what’s really going on in Storey County.
The Governors Office of Economic Development (GOED) met at the Capitol yesterday for it’s November board meeting.
Item 7 on the agenda for discussion and possible approval was the TRIC effluent pipeline bond measure we have been covering since it was first floated at the Storey County Commissioners meeting some months past. You can read our coverage here and here and here.
The Bond Measure was removed from the agenda at the last minute and was not discussed.
The initial bond measure was scrapped because, according to Commissioner Lance Gilman, Storey County couldn’t qualify for the bond.
The Teller has reached out to GOED officials and anyone else who will pick up the phone and have gotten exactly zero information regarding the bond structure and configuration.
From the looks of things, only the stakeholders who don’t have to pay for the darned thing get to know the details of the bond. Here at the Teller, we will continue to push for as much information as we can about the structure of this deal.
The taxpayers of Storey County, whose tax revenue may be diverted to pay for this developer expense deserve to know and deserve to have input on the structure of this deal.
This was the first GOED meeting we attended. It was interesting to see the different types of companies who are receiving the benefits of what GOED uses to stimulate business.
As a champion of the free market, The Teller stands in opposition to taking or diverting taxpayer money to benefit one company at the expense of another.
By redistributing or redirecting taxpayer money the government is selecting a “winner” at the expense of all other companies competing with the “winner”. This makes the competitors “losers” by default and is the antithesis of the free market.
But I digress…
There were some innovative companies asking for assistance from GOED including a food packaging company producing salad accessory packets (yes, that is a thing; 500 million annually with 200%+ growth and few companies in the space), a software development company, a laser metal fabrication company and a company owned by Caterpillar who rebuilds railroad wheel components.
All in all the meeting was interesting. The Teller provided public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting. First I made note of the fact that while much of the attention is focused on Reno/Tahoe and Vegas, Rural Nevada needs love too.
At the end of the meeting, I took the opportunity to plead the case of the Storey County Taxpayer who will be expected to shoulder the burden of a $35 million dollar deal that will directly benefit exactly nobody living in Storey County.
The Governor was polite and attentive.
Stay Tuned.
Thank you for keeping us weary and broke taxpayers up to date.
If you and Sam weren’t doing this, who would? Thanks and keep up the good work.
Thank you for reading The Teller, Patrick. Your kind words keep the grindstone turning.