Budget committees find little to battle over

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, May 4, 1999 | 11:16 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada Assembly and Senate budget panels have held their first joint meeting to iron out budget differences -- but there wasn't much to talk about.

During the brief meeting Monday, Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means members resolved a handful of minor items in the proposed $3.2 billion spending plan for the next two years.

After that, Senate Finance Chairman Bill Raggio, R-Reno, adjourned the meeting without scheduling another one.

Raggio said there are few differences between the Assembly and Senate on their respective versions of the Nevada budget, largely because of extensive work by joint subcommittees since the start of the session.

What's left out of the equation at this point are any session "endgame" tactics by senators and Assembly members to push for what little extra money is available after main budgets are approved.

One dispute is developing over class-size reduction funds. Democrats want to preserve funding but say a proposal in Senate Finance could gut the effort by letting school districts use the money for any purpose.

Lawmakers, who must adjourn by May 31, only last week learned from the state Economic Forum that there's $105.5 million more in tax revenues available for this year and the next two fiscal years.

The state revenues are higher than what Gov. Kenny Guinn had expected. But the governor and key lawmakers say it's still not a lot and won't do much more than restore numerous budget cuts Guinn proposed earlier.

The new estimate includes $39.1 million that will be added to the $1.5 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Another $66.4 million will be added to the $3.1 billion in taxes projected to flow into state coffers in the coming two fiscal years.

Guinn has said much of the extra money will be needed to fix the state's NOMADS computer system, shore up Medicaid funding and restore several social services programs he had cut earlier.

Benefit increases for state workers are still being discussed, Guinn chief of staff Pete Ernaut said. Guinn had promised earlier to make some sort of benefit for the workers a top priority.