My commitment to local economic development

One of the strongest areas of concern for Wyoming to have a successful economic future is the development of local economies in our cities and towns.

When I decided to run for governor, it was obvious one of my biggest assets has been my long-time commitment to local economic development in my hometown of Lander and home county of Fremont.

Let me give you one example of how a good idea helped our little town of Lander survive the bust created by closure of mines in the mid-1980s. (More detail can be found elsewhere on this website in The Lander Story).

Our town was decimated by the closure of a huge local iron ore mine, several open pit uranium mines and a downturn in the price of oil.

Lander had seen its middle class virtually disappear as the high school enrollment dropped to fewer than 600 students from a high of over 1,000 a few years earlier.

I was president of our local economic development group, The LEADER Corporation. We met every week and we had lots of problems to solve.

An obvious one was the sight of 600 empty homes for sale. This had caused all real estate prices to plunge in the community. As economic developers, we were very aware of the concept that "a rising tide raises all ships." And right in front of our eyes, we could see the opposite was true, too.

If we could get a bunch of these homes sold, it would protect the value of everybody else's real estate, too. As editor of the local newspaper, I wrote many editorials telling people that "future millionaires are being created today by those people buying up these cheap homes."

Our biggest success story in this area was our recruitment of "vigorous retirees." I saw a problem - 600 empty homes - and I came up with a solution for that problem.

My concept was to recruit what I called vigorous retirees to move to Lander. These were people being forced out of the military or people who were being forced to retire early from large corporations like IBM and General Motors.

We felt they had to be people in their late 40s up to early 60s. We wanted "vigorous" people who enjoyed our mountains and deserts and loved our solitary spaces and hunting, fishing and camping.

We felt we could recruit them to Lander for four reasons:
1. Cheap housing
2. Great medical service
3. Incredible outdoor recreation
4. Low taxes

They brought their own money with them

There are many advantages to this economy by attracting such people here.

First, they bring their own income with them. The type of person we're recruiting was the person who is usually an early retiree and was receiving a retirement benefit. For example, if we could attract 300 of these types of families to Lander over five years, -- 60 per year -- and if each had an annual retirement benefit of $20,000 per year it would equal an industry with a $6 million annual payroll.

Second, these people have a lot to offer. They were almost always well educated and the term "vigorous" indicates just how active they are. They get involved. They joined Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions and the Chamber of Commerce. This program was not for who I called the "Sun City set" -- it was for people who enjoy seasons, such as our occasionally severe winter weather!

Third, They don't cost much. Usually, their children have already been educated. Certainly they don't bring police problems. And, in fact, they often added to the economy by investing in everything from local businesses to local real estate to things such as buying stock in the local LEADER Corporation.

Our committee raised a good chunk of money to be spent attracting vigorous retirees to Lander through advertising in specialty publications. We also got a lot of free publicity. The program worked great. The local Welcome Wagon tracked some 99 new families in the first year and within three years, our glut of housing was gone and home prices started to climb again.

The Vigorous Retiree Recruitment program was just one example of many programs and projects that I was involved in when it came to local economic development.

Our accountant tells us LEADER Corporation (which I founded with former Mayor Del McOmie) has leveraged $4.5 million over the past 15 years, created or saved 200 jobs and helped more than 35 businesses, besides working on every other type of economic development activity imaginable.

I know local economic development.

As governor, I will make sure such local programs get all the help they need from state government.

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Authorized by William C. Sniffin
Contributions or gifts to Bill Sniffin for Governor 2002 are not tax-deductible.
Bill Sniffin for Governor - P.O. Box 900 ­ Lander, WY 82520 (307) 332-3111, ext. 17