Nevada Briefs - April 2006

Nevada Briefs

AES Industries Locates in Wabuska

AES Industries has purchased a vacant 63,000-square-foot plastics manufacturing plant in Wabuska, and will manufacture and distribute frames and supports for roof-mounted HVAC systems. The facility will bring 50 to 75 new jobs to this community just north of Yerington, which will have a significant economic impact for Mason Valley and Lyon County, according to officials at Northern Nevada Development Authority, which was part of a team that worked to bring AES to Nevada. Other team members included the city of Yerington, the Mason Valley Chamber of Commerce, CB Richard Ellis and Miller Industrial Properties. "The total economic impact over the next year is expected to exceed $10 million. It is important for the Northern Nevada region to work together in bringing these opportunities to our area," said Brad Woodring, economic development executive with Sierra Pacific Power.

Nevada’s Business Climate Praised

Chief Executive Magazine recently named Nevada the second-best state in the U.S. to do business, outranked only by Texas. The report polled more than 300 executives on such factors as employment, investment and business conditions, and graded the importance of social, political and economic factors. CEOs ranked workforce quality and labor costs as the most important factors in determining the best state to do business. Texas, Nevada and North Carolina were named the three best states to do business, while California, New York and Massachusetts were the three worst. "Nevada’s favorable business climate is what attracts top executives across the country who make the decision on where to move or expand their company," said Tim Rubald, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development. "Nevada’s tax advantages, government backing and robust economy create a support system for companies looking to grow and prosper."

Metro Awards Radio System Contract

M/A-COM, a business unit of Tyco Electronics, has received an $8.9 million contract from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) to deploy an OpenSky network solution, which will provide voice and data communications for the department’s law enforcement personnel. This will connect the department’s current force of more than 2,000 officers internally, as well as providing interoperability with surrounding agencies. Using a series of network gateways, the OpenSky system will interoperate with the State of Nevada’s Shared Radio System, which extends across the major counties of the state and other counties in the area. This will enable the LVMPD to interact with outside agencies using disparate radios, regardless of manufacturer and frequency. OpenSky is designed to strengthen the department’s current communication capabilities and prepare it for future emergencies.

It Keeps Growing and Growing…

Based on recently-released population estimates from the Nevada State demographer’s office, the Silver State grew by an estimated 108,102 persons, or 4.5 percent, between July 2004 and July 2005. This is compared with a 5.0 percent increase from July 2003 to July 2004. Nevada’s growth continues to be unevenly distributed, with Southern Nevada experiencing the highest influx of people. Rural Nevada continues its rebound from the downturn it experienced earlier this decade. The complete report can be downloaded from the demographer’s Web site, www.nsbdc.org/demographer.

Location	Population	% Increase
	on 7/1/2005	from 7/1/2004

Clark County	1,796,380	4.7%
Nye County	41,302	8.2%
Carson City	57,104	1.7%
Churchill County	26,585	1.8%
Douglas County	50,108	4.8%
Lyon County	48,860	9.4%
Storey County	4,012	5.7%
Washoe County	396,844	3.5%
Elko County	47,586	2.3%
Esmeralda County	1,276	8.5%
Eureka County	1,485	0.1%
Humboldt County	17,293	3.6%
Lander County	5,509	2.8%
Lincoln County	3,886	1.7%
Mineral County	4,629	-0.9%
Pershing County	6,736	1.6%
White Pine County	9,275	3.4%
State of Nevada	2,518,869	4.5%