Two years after their first crack at annexation stalled, both Wendovers are game to try their hand again at merging into one Nevada city.

The City Council in casino-rich West Wendover, Nev., recently voted to press ahead with

annexation. Their counterparts in revenue-challenged Wendover, Utah, are expected to follow suit within a few weeks.

"We want to make sure everyone is agreeable to proceed," said Wendover City Manager Glenn Wadsworth. "We're following [West Wendover's] lead."

Two factors are fueling the two towns' renewed urge to merge. The University of Utah's Center for Public Policy & Administration (CPPA) has agreed to help the two Wendovers do more annexation research as well as act as a liaison with the Utah Legislature.

More important, members of a Nevada legislative subcommittee in August recommended approval of the merger - with a caveat.

"They will not accept annexation if there is any debt associated with the transaction," West Wendover City Administrator Chris Melville said. "Wendover must come [to Nevada] debt-free."

If Wendover, as expected, votes to proceed, Melville and Wadsworth will spend the next six months researching how that might be accomplished, as well as to provide answers to other concerns posed by members of the Nevada Legislative Committee on Public Lands.

Melville says finding solutions will not be easy. For instance, if West Wendover were to want Wendover's airport, the Nevada city might have to pay $3.5 million or more to Utah's Tooele County.

There also is the estimated $2 million tab - facing either West Wendover or Nevada's Elko County School District - for absorbing Tooele County's schools in Wendover.

Another annexation issue: how Utah teachers in Wendover would become certified in Nevada and retain their benefits.

Annexation, though, might pay dividends, too. A $100,000 study in 2002 indicated merging into one Nevada city would save the owner of a typical $115,000 home as much as $1,861 per year. The study further suggested West Wendover might net $9,000 more in general fund revenues and eventually add another $100,000 to its property tax take as vacant industrial sites in Wendover are developed.

But that was two years ago.

"Apparently that study is old hat, and [Nevada lawmakers and officials of both cities] want to bring up some other issues that were probably not included in the original," Wadsworth said.

The U. is expected to help out with that research, as well as assist in bringing the issue to the attention of the Utah Legislature.

"Almost everything that has been done so far has been done by the Nevada side," CPPA's Robert Hamud said.

Nevada committee members want Utah lawmakers to sign off on an interstate compact for annexation by 2006, so the Nevada Legislature can do the same in 2007. Then congressional leaders from both states would have to back annexation.

Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign have balked thus far. But Melville says both will play ball if the Utah and Nevada legislatures support the measure.