Let’s stop pretending this is complicated.

Milford and western Beaver County are losing at least $20 MILLION every single year, and it’s happening for one reason: we refuse to fix our housing and land development problem.

This isn’t speculation. I ran the numbers. They’re ugly.

The Economic Drain (In Plain English)

Every day, hundreds of workers drive into Milford to earn paychecks—and then drive right back out, taking their money with them.

Here’s what that costs us every year:

Source of Loss	Annual Economic Loss
Permanent full-time workers living outside Beaver County	$7+ million
Temporary labor living outside the county	$8+ million
Loss of tax base, retail benefit, other	Millions more
Minimum total annual loss	~$20 MILLION

That’s not a rounding error.
That’s a slow-motion economic hemorrhage.
Last Thursday morning I was driving to St. George at 6:30 AM. For fun I counted 95 vehicles in just the 15 minute span between Milford and Minersville heading north into town. Wild.

The Mine Example (One Employer)

• At the mine alone:
• ~150 total employees (including contractors)
• 41% of total salaries are paid to people who live in Iron County
• Those wages are spent on:
  – Groceries
  – Housing
  – Gas
  – Restaurants
  – Schools
  … somewhere else.

Now multiply that by every major employer near Milford. That 41% might as well be a vacuum hose sucking money straight out of Milford.

Let’s Kill the Myths Right Now

❌ “We don’t have enough shopping or amenities”

Wrong.
Retail follows rooftops, not the other way around.

❌ “People don’t want to live here”

Wrong again.
People do want to live here. They just can’t.

❌ “The market will fix itself”

It hasn’t. And it won’t.

The Actual Problem (Say It Out Loud)

Milford does not have housing.

Breaking that down:

1. Professional Workers Have No Options

Engineers, managers, supervisors, and skilled professionals bring families. They expect:

• Buildable lots
• Newer homes
• Basic neighborhood infrastructure

That doesn’t exist—so they live in Cedar City and commute.

2. Temporary Workers Have Nowhere to Go

Construction crews, drillers, and short-term labor:

• Can’t find rentals
• Can’t find temporary housing
• Can’t find anything

So they live outside the county and spend their money there.

3. The Root Cause: No Developed Land

This is the real bottleneck:

Problem	Reality
Land availability	Plenty
Buildable lots	Few, and those that exist are overpriced
Infrastructure cost	Too high
Developer ROI	Doesn’t pencil

Lots of land + no buildable lots = Stagnation

Visual: The Broken Development Cycle

Cheap Raw Land
      ↓
High Infrastructure Costs
      ↓
No Developer ROI
      ↓
No Housing
      ↓
Workers Commute In
      ↓
Money Leaves Milford
      ↓
Repeat (Forever)

And while we repeat this cycle, we lose $20 million every year.

What $20 Million a Year Could Be Doing Instead

Let’s be clear about what this loss is costing us:

• A main street that resembles a ghost town
• Stagnant school enrollment
• Less school funding
• Fewer teachers and programs
• Fewer stores and restaurants
• Fewer services
• No 11-man football
• Fewer opportunities for our kids
• Roads that never improve

This isn’t about “growth for growth’s sake.” Growth is upon us. This is about survival.

And I already know what I’m going to hear… “But Darin, we don’t want to ‘overbuild’ and then have it all abandoned later.” Those who say that don’t understand the long-term nature of what is happening here. Also, our fear of our boom-and-bust history has caused those in decision-making capacities to do nothing. To sit there in a state of cynicism and terror. Some of us remember a time when we had two grocery stores, two bars, four clothing stores, three gas stations. A movie theater. More. We can have all this again if we could simply show some courage.

Great things are happening around here. Things that will change all of us. Things that will change the world. We’re on ground zero and most people don’t even know it.

The Solution (And Yes, It’s On Us)

Developers are not villains here. The math simply doesn’t work for them under current conditions.

That means the fix has to start with the city and the county:

What Must Happen:

• Public investment in infrastructure, roads, sewers, and sidewalks
• Incentives to offset development costs
• Changes to building and zoning ordinances
• A proactive, not reactive—or non-active—growth strategy

And let’s be honest:
Nothing changes unless citizens demand it.

The Clock Is Ticking

We are in a transition period right now—whether anyone likes it or not. Yet, this isn’t a quick problem to fix. People do what they have to do and live where they have to live. Don’t misunderstand– I’m not blaming people for living in Cedar City and driving in every day. For now THEY HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE. This is our fault. But we can make a change. It won’t be easy or quick, but we should start now.

We have two options:

1. Manage growth intentionally, or
2. Stay stagnant and watch opportunity pass us by forever

Milford is already paying the price.
Every year we delay costs us another $20 million.

The question isn’t whether change is coming. Its already upon us.

The question is whether Milford will benefit from it—or be left behind.