WEST WENDOVER, Nevada — Let Round Two begin.
In one corner, there are two border towns that want to merge, requiring a historic shift of a state line. Their opponent, a host of unanswered questions that at any time could end this bout.
The city councils from West Wendover and Wendover, Utah, met Monday on how to continue the fight, which could last until 2006. That's the soonest a merger could take place.
"Every day it's going to be some new development," said West Wendover City Councilwoman Lore Cook.
The latest move was for both sides to put a ballot question to voters Nov. 5. A majority in each case favored a merger. But that didn't force Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., into changing his mind, as some had hoped, on opposing a merger.
"Reid is still a problem if you ask me at this point," said Wendover Mayor Steve Perry.
Some believe that an interstate compact that spells out the details of the merger might sway Reid. In the compact, it would call for up to 10,000 acres of Utah to be annexed into Nevada.
West Wendover officials were expected to meet with Nevada state legislators Tuesday to begin working toward that compact. State lawmakers representing Nevada's Elko County and Utah's Tooele County will need to gather around a table to hammer out such an agreement, a document that hopefully will rally Reid's support.
Others at Monday's meeting continue to believe that enabling legislation in Congress will drive the merger. But HB2054 suffered a knockdown this last go-around, largely because of Reid. It'll have to stand again before the House next year before it is introduced to the Senate. Many wonder whether Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's newfound powers in a now Republican-controlled Senate will see the bill to victory.
Then there's the question of a historic Wendover Airport that Tooele County is not eager to give up. It's deep in debt, operating at an annual loss and could cost Nevada at least $3 million to own.
With the debt Tooele County School District still owes on a new school in Wendover and other costs of merging, some fear the total price tag to West Wendover could be anywhere between $7 million and $30 million.
West Wendover Mayor Josephine Thaut said she was told by state officials her city must come up with any merger monies on its own. The city is already in the midst of budget cuts while trying to figure out how to fund the next two years of the merger process. It's estimated the city has already spent more than $60,000, a number that could triple by the end of 2004.
"I think the citizens have voted, and it's our obligation to find the money in the budget," said West Wendover City Councilman Mike Miera. His council voted Monday to keep swinging away.
Wendover, Utah, hasn't put its expenditures on paper, but Perry said the city remains committed toward a merger. Its council will vote on whether to, and perhaps how to, proceed in an upcoming meeting.
The next joint meeting is scheduled for Dec. 19 on the Utah side.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com