Editorial: Too many questions over plan

Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2000 | 9:58 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is frustrated that state agencies spend about $18 million a year to lease office space from private landlords. The governor doesn't like paying this much rent, but building new government offices runs into a constitutional roadblock. The Nevada Constitution puts a ceiling on how much public debt that state government can incur. Since the state's building program -- which includes university buildings, state prisons and other facilities -- already is near the constitutional cap, it effectively prevents the state from constructing new buildings, which means the state has to continue renting office space.

Guinn, however, is proposing that the state of Nevada permit private companies to build office buildings on state land. The state, then, would enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the private firms to acquire the buildings after 20 years, a plan that Guinn and other state officials believe would not run afoul of the state's constitutional limit on public debt. There's a problem with Guinn's plan, though. The Nevada Supreme Court in 1970 found that a similar scheme tried by Gov. Paul Laxalt was unconstitutional.

On Wednesday the state Board of Examiners likely will set in motion a court challenge in the hope that the Nevada Supreme Court will issue a favorable ruling this time on lease-purchase agreements. Rather than trying to finesse their way around a constitutional ban through the courts, the best way would have been to openly seek voter approval through a constitutional amendment. But therein are the real reasons why they chose this route -- they know this would take a lot of time, and it is doubtful that voters would approve a plan to skirt the state's prohibition on running up public debt.