Nevada given C in government

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001 | 2:14 a.m.

A university study gave Nevada an overall C grade for the way its state government is managed, a slight drop from a C+ two years ago.

The study, by Syracuse University's Maxwell School, was released today by Governing magazine. The study graded each state in five categories, as did a similar study in 1999. Nevada's grade dropped in three of the five categories, contributing to the decline in its overall grade.

Katherine Barrett, a special products editor for the magazine, said in a prepared statement that although Nevada's grades dropped, "state leaders were often reasonably aware of where the trouble spots were."

"We were concerned that its budget had been built up to an unsustainable level by remarkable growth rates," Barrett said of Nevada. "That was part of the reason the grade in financial management went (from a B) to a B-. But the state's director of the Department of Administration (Perry Comeaux) was fully aware of the issues there. And that's a good sign.

"Similarly, in human resources, which we thought was the state's biggest weakness, it has begun to do more work force planning, and that's a good beginning."

Comeaux declined to comment on the report because he had not yet digested the findings. Jack Finn, spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn, also was not immediately available for comment. But the magazine quoted Comeaux as conceding that the state's budget had been built up by unsustainable growth rates.

"I think long term we're headed for problems," Comeaux told the magazine. "I guess if you look in the dictionary under structural deficit, the state seal of Nevada ought to be right there by the definition."

Nevada received its highest grade, a B, for capital management. The study praised the state Department of Transportation for striking a "reasonable balance" between road construction and maintenance. The state also was lauded for competitive building expenses, thanks in part to the influx of contractors from neighboring states. Still, the grade was a slight decline from the B+ earned in 1999.

The B- given for financial management was not only for Nevada's budget problems but for the state's penchant for passing laws and beginning new programs without fully projecting their long-range costs, the study noted. An example cited was the rapidly escalating costs of class-size reduction. Conversely, the state was praised for its cost accounting and purchasing.

Under managing for results, the state earned a C, same as two years ago. Nevada was criticized for not doing enough to link individual state programs to higher-level goals and for doing little to institute citizen-satisfaction measures.

One unidentified official told the magazine that if strategic planning is done "half-heartedly, put on a shelf and ignored, (it) pulls state employees' valuable and limited time away from providing services to Nevada's taxpayers."

Having earned a C two years ago for information technology, Nevada's grade in that category fell to a C-. A major criticism was that state agencies do not have standardized databases, meaning the information they keep is fragmented. The state was lauded for developing a statewide information-sharing plan. But the study noted that efforts to establish a statewide data system had been delayed.

"The state is behind the curve on delivering transactions over the Internet, but seems committed to moving forward on that front," the report noted.

Nevada's worst grade, a D+ for human resources, was actually an improvement from the D earned in 1999. The state was chastised for maintaining an outdated job-classification system, bogged down by regulations, and for paying its employees on average about 25 percent less than similar positions in the private sector.

Bob Gagnier, executive director of the State of Nevada Employees Association, said he was not at all surprised by the state's low grade. He said Nevada's unwillingness to offer competitive wages makes it difficult to fill state jobs.

Gagnier said that wage issues have contributed to an annual 20-percent turnover among the state's registered nurses, who work in social service programs as well as in prisons. He said a salary survey performed by the state found that the nurses were paid 27 percent less than their counterparts in the private sector. Social workers likewise were almost 29 percent behind their private sector counterparts.

"We have proposed that registered nurses and social workers receive special pay increases but the (Guinn) administration declined," Gagnier said. "We're going to pursue it anyway."