Reaction: Show us the money

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.

Three academicians and a state employees union chief gave Gov. Kenny Guinn a mixed report card on his State of the State address.

The governor took politically safe positions by opposing new taxes and utility deregulation but did not spend enough time explaining where money for new programs would come from, they said.

Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, called Guinn's speech "mediocre" because of issues he failed to address.

"All he said about growth is that we're the fastest-growing state," Herzik said. "On water and transportation I didn't hear a thing. Nuclear waste is a bogeyman but water is a bigger issue.

"He had a lot of relatively low-dollar specifics. If you added them up, it's not a lot in a $3.8 billion budget. It's as if you went to a dinner party and all they served were hors d'oeuvres."

UNLV political science department Chairman Ted Jelen said Guinn delivered a "conservative speech in liberal language." For instance, while pledging new initiatives to aid low-income, uninsured and disabled Nevadans, Jelen said the governor reached out to his base of support by pledging no new taxes.

"On education the conservatives got some of the rhetoric, but the liberals got the money," Jelen said. "How many times did he say the phrase, 'back to the basics?' I counted at least six. That's a mantra to conservatives. Who is against money for more textbooks and reading programs?"

Overall funding for education would increase by 13 percent over the next two years under Guinn's budget package, but that would barely keep up with the state's population growth and inflation, said R. Keith Schwer, director of UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research.

"It's really just marking time," Schwer said. "That's not to say how the money will be spent won't be an improvement."

Schwer said Guinn was correct to assume that there was no political appetite to raise taxes. He also credited the governor for opposing utility deregulation, at least in the short term, based on the disaster in California that has resulted in electricity blackouts.

"We're not prepared to handle the volatility of the free market," Schwer said. "But if there are economies of scale to lower prices, then you could move toward deregulation. It's proper that he is vacillating."

Guinn's pledge to increase state employee salaries by 4 percent in each of the next two years was applauded by Bob Gagnier, executive director of the 3,400-member State of Nevada Employees Association.

"We will support that because that is close to what we proposed," Gagnier said.

Employees with at least eight years of experience also would be eligible for an additional merit increase of 4.5 percent, another Guinn proposal the union supports.

But Gagnier said not all salary proposals backed by his union made the governor's budget package. State employees, for instance, are seeking a one-time bonus of up to $2,400 per worker to make up for cost-of-living adjustments left out of prior budgets.

Some employees, such as correctional officers and parole and probation officers, are in line for added pay grades. But Gagnier said he would like added pay grades for other state employees, including nurses, social workers and highway maintenance specialists.

He also said Guinn, who boasted of leaving more than 1,500 state positions "unfilled or eliminated," ought to reconsider filling some existing job vacancies in areas dealing with welfare and mental health.

"If there aren't any new taxes, we're going to be in deep do-do down the road if we don't do something with the tax structure," Gagnier said.

Former Gov. Bob Miller also sounded a cautionary note about class-size reduction, which he championed for first through third grades. While Guinn also preached maintaining class-size reduction for those grades, Miller said he hopes his successor does not seek reductions of student-teacher ratios in higher grades if it means taking money away from the lower grades.

"Those are the formative years," Miller said.

archive