state budget

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval said today he will make it a priority as governor to encourage businesses to relocate to Nevada from neighboring states where taxes have been raised to deal with the economic slowdown.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s public employee retirement system will require increased contributions from the state and local governments next year to maintain the long-term financial health of the defined benefit plan, the board overseeing the program was told today.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Veteran Republican state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, won’t be minority leader in the upcoming 2011 session, withdrawing his name from consideration for the leadership post today after getting GOP criticism for backing Sen. Harry Reid in the Tuesday general election.

Dozens of Nevada’s nonprofit groups, service providers and others met this week in Reno and Las Vegas to consider the looming threat of deep cuts to the state budget cuts which threaten to eliminate or dramatically reduce health care, education, and human services.

Service agency and nonprofit directors from Lyon and Storey counties attended the Monday meeting, hoping for insights on how to plan for the upcoming deep cuts to Nevada’s public education, health and social services that will hit the rural areas especially hard.

Democratic state Senator Joyce Woodhouse and Republican challenger Michael Roberson debated the budget, taxes and unjustified political attacks today in a race viewed as critical by both parties for the upcoming 2011 legislative session.
Woodhouse, running for a second term in Clark District 5, said the mailers sent out by the Nevada State Democratic Party attacking Roberson did not come from her campaign or have her review.

Nearly a month of being hospitalized after a Sept. 21 horse riding accident in which he broke his pelvis, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons returned to the mansion in Carson City over the weekend. Gibbons will be receiving several weeks of outpatient therapy, according to staff.
Meanwhile, Gibbons continues work on a new state budget. Click here to read more.

Under a proposed state budget plan, four of Nevada's museums operated by the Division of Museums and History would close, including the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, said Peter Barton, acting administrator for the Division of Museums and History.

Other museums on the proposed state budget chopping block are the Nevada Historical Society in Reno, the state's oldest museum which opened in 1905; the Lost City Museum in Overton; and the Nevada Northern Railway Passenger and Freight Depot in East Ely.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The neighborhoods of this capital city and the Washoe Valley just to the north are ground zero for one of the most fiercely contested state legislative races in Nevada this year.
Potentially at stake is the makeup of the 42-member Assembly and whether Democrats can sustain their dominance of the lower house with a 28-member, veto-proof majority.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
Taxes, the state budget and a looming revenue shortfall in 2011 took center stage Thursday in the second debate between the two major party candidates for Nevada governor.

CARSON CITY – State Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio said today he will make an endorsement in the neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race within the next few days.

CARSON CITY – Republican state treasurer candidate Steve Martin said today the Democratic incumbent is playing politics by delaying a discussion involving an unprecedented $50 million investment loss until after the Nov. 2 general election.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – The head of Nevada’s Retail Association says a tax increase will likely be needed to balance the state budget next year, and expanding the sales tax to include at least some services is one place to look.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera said today he believes the Legislature will have a great opportunity in 2011 to look at ways of broadening the state’s tax base to eliminate the volatility that has created Nevada’s boom and bust funding cycles.

Assemblyman John Hambrick this week said he will vie for chairmanship of the Republican Assembly Caucus against sitting chairman Pete Goicoechea if he wins reelection in November. He also expressed concerns about what he characterized as an abuse of power by some in Democratic leadership in Carson City.

Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada state agencies and public education have submitted budgets calling for nearly $8 billion in spending for the upcoming two years, about $3 billion more than what is expected to be available with current tax revenues.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera said yesterday he will pursue a number of transparency measures in the 2011 legislative session with an eye towards providing the public with accountability and confidence in how the state spends taxpayer dollars.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
Former Nevada Gov. Bob Miller said Monday it is unrealistic for both major party candidates for governor to say they won’t raise taxes in the upcoming 2011 session.

Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
Underdog Democratic candidate for governor Rory Reid took the opportunity at a first debate today with leading GOP candidate Brian Sandoval to challenge his opponent’s commitment to spending on public education.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A plan released today by Democrat governor candidate Rory Reid on how to balance the Nevada state budget without raising taxes received some praise from a free market think tank even though many questions remain, including whether the proposal includes an overly optimistic prediction of future tax revenue growth.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada budget guru Guy Hobbs said Wednesday expanding the sales tax to encompass services is “not a bad place to start� in the effort to broaden the state’s tax base.
“Sixty percent of our economy is services, not a bad place to start,� he said. “A lot of those services are discretionary services, certainly not a bad place to start.�

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea said today Nevada voters should be asked to expand the state sales tax to include food purchases as a way to raise revenue and broaden the tax base.
But any such revenue hike should be accompanied by a reduction in the state’s regressive business taxes, he said.

CARSON CITY – Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce President Matt Crosson said Thursday the Nevada business community will not accept tax increases in the upcoming 2011 legislative session without “meaningful� reforms in a number of areas including taxes, education and public employee benefits.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons said today he wants to see what strings are attached to the $82 million approved by Congress this week to hire teachers in Nevada before agreeing to accept the funds.

Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Democrat gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid told the Nevada News Bureau yesterday there are other options for moving the state out of its current budget crisis besides increasing taxes and cutting programs.

Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada could find a way out of its $3 billion revenue shortfall next year without raising taxes, but only if the Legislature looks at restructuring the way the state and local governments provide and pay for services, the state’s top fiscal officer said yesterday.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – State Budget Director Andrew Clinger yesterday painted a bleak picture of Nevada’s next two-year spending plan, saying under current tax and spending levels every single program and agency except for education would have to be eliminated to balance the budget.

Last week we reported that the governor's office sent a letter to Nugget Project consultant Mark Lewis taking issue with certain parts of the feasibility study for moving three state agencies into the Carson City Center/Nugget Project.

The one big item missing in that story was the Meridian Business Advisors feasibility study itself, which we now have a copy of.

CARSON CITY – The major funding gaps Nevada and other states have been forced to address in their current budgets will continue in the next cycle even as tax revenues finally begin to show signs of life, a national report released today says.
Signs of “delicate” revenue improvement will be offset by the loss of federal stimulus funds, posing ongoing challenges to lawmakers in 2011 and beyond, says the report from the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL).

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s transparency website, where taxpayers can go to examine details of spending by state agencies, still does not include a critical component that would make the information more useful.
Budget limitations have put a plan to put contract information on the site in a searchable format on hold, said state Budget Director Andrew Clinger.