FOX5 Vegas - KVVUCounty Commission denies Laughlin bid for incorporation

County Commission denies Laughlin bid for incorporation

Laughlin residents will not get the chance to vote on becoming a city.

Tuesday, the Clark County Commission voted unanimously against an election, saying Laughlin could not stand on its own financially and would begin in a multi-million dollar deficit.

Many residents say they should have the right to vote.

"Everybody has a right," says Laughlin resident Charlie Shoemaker. "And it's not up to them to make the decision for us. And they're crazy as hell if they think they do."

"We're a little community and apparently, even as residents, we don't have a say either way as to what goes on in our community," added Linda Bennett. "We've got to rely on what they say up there in the big city."

Others think without the casino corridor, the money just isn't there.

"If the casinos aren't in it, I don't know," said one resident. "I need to know a little bit more, but from what I understand we're not gonna beat those guys."

State Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, questions the democracy.

"The message to the people who were repudiated was we don't think you know what you're doing," Hardy said. "And that's not going to sit well with the people who feel, yes they can have their city and they can have autonomy and they can choose their destiny."

Hardy says the issue is not dead and that he will bring the subject up in the next legislative session in 2013.

The County Commission asked for the economics to be monitored and for the Commission to get a yearly update for possible revisitation of the issue. 

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