Editorial: Regents need to cut back

Sunday, May 21, 2000 | 8:48 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is understandably upset. As far back as January, Guinn warned state agencies about the tight fiscal times ahead and the need to submit proposed budgets with no increases over current levels. But the urgency apparently was lost on the University and Community College System of Nevada. The Board of Regents, which oversees the university system, has been considering a two-year, $1.1 billion budget for the fiscal year starting July 2001 -- an increase of 28 percent that translates into an additional $200 million over the current two-year budget cycle.

After meeting Wednesday with Jane Nichols, the university system's interim chancellor, Guinn followed up with a blistering letter to her in which he demanded that the regents submit a flat budget. Although the additional $200 million request was discussed publicly at a regents' meeting in Las Vegas on May 9, Nichols contended Thursday that no final decision will be made until the regents meet again in June. And Jill Talbot-Derby, the Board of Regents' chairwoman, said the system would comply with Guinn's request.

The university system certainly has faced tough times as it has had to deal with exploding student enrollments, but its consideration of such a huge increase raises the obvious question of how much thought the university system has given to the big picture. Even if it was to get everything it wanted it would have to come out of the hide of other state agencies that also have pressing demands placed on them. Maybe enough funds will be found for the university system once the 2001 Legislature is in session, but until then the regents should prepare to tighten their belts just like everyone else in state government.