President Obama says the country is finally seeing an economic recovery.

And with the Gross Domestic Product indictor showing a 2.8 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2011, and unemployment dropping about a point over the last year, we can see why he might think that.

But here in Mohave County, unemployment remains near the 10 percent mark. That’s one in 10 people you see on the street each day, out of work. And that’s only the people we know of – those that have filed for or continue receiving unemployment insurance. It doesn’t include those whose benefits have been exhausted, those that never filed and those that couldn’t find a job here and have moved away.

We can’t rely on Washington to fix the economic problems here in Mohave County and Lake Havasu City. We need to take matters into our own hands. That’s why this might be the perfect time cut local taxes.

In its most recent report, the Lake Havasu City Finance Department reports that sales tax collections are up 4.1 percent year-to-date, the first time in three years we’ve seen growth in sales.

But we’ve not seen job growth – and job growth is the key to any economic recovery. A one percent cut in both the local sales and property taxes may not sound like much, but it could help the city as promoting itself as business-friendly – to both companies looking to locate here as well as helping existing businesses expand.

Those cuts would be hard on the city in the short term. But new business and business expansion creates jobs and jobs mean people spend money and buy homes. And the expanding base of collections, in the long term, would more than make up for the initial loss in revenue.

With ASU opening a campus here, with movement starting on clearing up the debt and ownership of the mall, with the Industrial Park land laying in wait to be utilized, we can think of no better time than right now to say that Lake Havasu City is open for business.

— Today’s News-Herald