The cost of clean living: City workers in town that straddles the Nevada-Utah border see a HUGE difference in pay on each side of the state line thanks to Silver State’s gambling and weed tax income

In a city that straddles the Utah-Nevada border, the wages of sin are higher wages for municipal workers.

West Wendover, Nevada is located directly west of Salt Lake City, making it the closest destination for residents of Utah’s capital to enjoy casinos, legal recreational weed, and looser liquor laws.

Although residents consider it one community, the state line bisects West Wendover, a city of 4,600 residents with five casinos, and Wendover, a city of 1,200 on the Utah side of the border.

Last year, nine of West Wendover’s 82 employees were paid more than $100,000, while only two of Wendover’s 26 employees made more than $50,000.following a check of the salary data by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“They have legal gambling on the west side, which makes a lot of money,” Wendover city manager Glenn Wadsworth told the outlet. ‘Whether it’s fair or not, I don’t make that judgement.’

West Wendover, Nevada is seen looking over the Utah border. The city is the closest place to Salt Lake City where you can enjoy casinos, legal recreational weed, and looser liquor laws

In 2023, Wadsworth received just $41,000, while his West Wendover counterpart, City Manager Chris Melville, made $170,000.

Melville told the newspaper that because of the casinos, the number of people in West Wendover could reach 30,000 on weekends, requiring a larger police force and other city services.

Although the two cities consider themselves one community, municipal services are largely handled separately.

In a sign of the unity between the two cities, West Wendover received federal approval in 1999 to switch from Pacific Time to Mountain Time so that the clocks on both sides of the border would align.

It makes West Wendover the only part of Nevada legally in the Mountain Time Zone.

In the past, residents of both cities have voted to approve Wendover’s annexation into Nevada so they can unify their city governments and departments.

However, the U.S. House resolution allowing Wendover to leave Utah and join Nevada stalled in the Senate in 2002 and did not become law.

The U.S. Constitution requires that any change in state boundaries be approved by both houses of Congress and the legislatures of the two states in question.

West Wendover City Manager Chris Melville said because of the casinos, the number of people in West Wendover could reach 30,000 on weekends

Just off Highway 80, near the Utah border, the Peppermill Hotel Casino proudly lit up their neon sign with a patriotic message in a file photo

Wendover was founded in 1908 as a station stop for the then-under-construction Western Pacific Railroad.

It gained fame as the site where the last telephone pole was built on June 27, 1914 to complete the 5,400 mile transcontinental telephone line.

During World War II, Wendover Army Air Field was used as a training base for bomber pilots, including the crew of the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare.

The population of the small town on the Utah side has never reached more than 2,000 residents.

The first casino on the Nevada side of the state line opened shortly after the state legalized gambling in 1931.

Originally known as the State Line Casino, the facility has changed names and owners and is now known as the Wendover Nugget.

West Wendover grew as a small resort and casino town in the 1970s and 1980s, but remained an unincorporated place in Elko County.

In 1991, West Wendover was officially incorporated under the motto ‘Come Grow With Us.’