Balancing Nevada's Budget

February  2003

Governor Guinn, in his State of the State proposed many tax increases to raise the hundreds of millions necessary to keep "The State" afloat. He said he didn't want to balance the budget if it negatively affected children, senior citizens or the poor.

 Fair enough.

He then said he wanted to spend more on education, Medicaid, and the Nevada Check-up Program. The real eye opener was a full day kindergarten plan costing about 100 million. He also wanted about $40 million for educational supplies like textbooks, computers and the like.

The reaction was mixed.

Here is the Governor saying he wants to raise taxes to cover existing shortfalls and raise taxes for new programs.  Bold move. Especially for a republican. The primary response from many was, "No new taxes. Lets balance the budget by cutting."

Well, most people think that making the State more efficient would work, and so would laying off a bunch of state employees. The problems is this:

About 70 percent of the entire state budget is for education. The rest is for the state,  and most of that for welfare and prisons. About 10 percent is for "The State", people have come to know and sometimes hate.

The question is .... How is it possible to balance the budget using that 10 percent? It can't happen. You could probably fire all state employees, and shut down their offices and not balance the budget.

You see, to balance  Nevada's budget with no new taxes would require significant cuts in programs that cost the most, collectively known as "Education".

This is how it can be done:

Cut out any proposal would cost more than what is spent at this time. The all day kindergarten for example. Then,

Cut the school budget across the board. Tell every county school district, to make an immediate 10 percent cut in their budgets.  

Wait and see what happens. Then cut some more. If it financial hurts, sound unfair, and you don't like it... tough. State employees have had to do this for years. And still they get little credit for doing it. State employees know first hand what unfair is.

To balance the state budget and live within our current means will mean school closures and teacher pay cuts. That is where the money is going and the only way to reduce spending is where it is being spent the most.

Or... raise taxes, like the Governor wants.