Legislators hope to avert conflict over university spending

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 9:11 a.m.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said there is "room for negotiation so everybody gets a little something ... a compromise so it doesn't blow up."

Titus and Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, have scheduled the session with Sisolak and other southern lawmakers and regents.

Gov. Kenny Guinn favors an independent study to see if there are inequities. The governor also has expressed interest in having any shifting of monies wait until the 2001 Legislature.

"The governor would appreciate a unified front from the university system," Peter Ernaut, Guinn's chief of staff, said.

The data, Ernaut said, is incomplete on whether there's an unequal distribution of money between north and south. And there isn't the money available now to correct this, he said.

"The governor wants an independent study and Sen. (Bill) Raggio agrees with that," Ernaut said. Raggio, R-Reno, is Senate majority leader.

Regents set and then canceled a special meeting Feb. 17 in Reno to talk about support formulas for UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada compared to the University of Nevada, Reno and northern Nevada community colleges. Sisolak wants the disparities straightened out during the 1999 Legislature.

Titus said, "Steve is telling me he's got the votes to open up the regents' budgets and to consider the priorities" of taking the money from development of the new Redfield campus south of Reno.

"But regardless of what he does, the Legislature is still in charge," Titus said. "If he (Sisolak) takes it off, Raggio can put it back on."

UNR and community colleges in Reno and Carson City are in a joint effort for the Redfield campus, whose land was donated to the system.

Sisolak says UNR receives $10,373 per student compared to $7,310 at UNLV.

In a joint statement, Perkins and Titus said, "As southern Nevadans, we are extremely concerned about these disparities and believe we must begin now to more closely examine the problem. We do believe, however, that if we get both southern and northern legislators, as well as the governor, to come to the table, we can work things out amicably."

They said they need to bring "everyone together so that this does not become a divisive regional fight where no one wins."

Titus said there must be a plan to address the unequal treatment with a definite timetable. "We can't take $40 million away from the north in one fell swoop ... maybe over five years. There's room for negotiations," she said.

Titus said there are a "lot of things in play." She said Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, wants a dental school at UNLV, that Perkins and Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, want a university campus in their hometown, and that Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, favors the development of the Redfield campus. Titus said she wants to see expansion of the Desert Research Institute in Las Vegas.

Clark County has held the majority on the Board of Regents and in the Legislature for more than 20 years. Guinn is from Las Vegas, as were the previous two governors.

Asked why Clark County hasn't moved before this, Titus, a professor at UNLV, said that southern Republicans "have been reluctant to buck Bill Raggio." She said Sisolak deserves credit for raising the issue.