Columnist Dean Juipe: Nevada needs to re-think playoff ban

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, May 15, 2001 | 10:12 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

I've always categorized these endless State of Nevada budget-crunch stories as deceptive, if not downright bogus.

Year after year the reports matriculate from Carson City about one revenue crisis or shortfall or another, and, without fail, I've dismissed them as either blatantly erroneous or as the byproduct of political rhetoric.

A third possibility, outright corruption, has also come to mind.

Each option has a basic premise from my perspective: Nevada has a ton of money passing through it each and every day and it's inconceivable that this is not among the wealthiest states in the union.

Las Vegas, for instance, is a rich, rich city inhabited by an inordinate number of rich, rich people. How is it then that the State of Nevada, to hear the legislators and governor tell it, is restricted to a shoestring budget that continues to be pared and chopped without regard to consequence?

The latest "crisis" is especially offensive in that it hits closer to home and will negatively affect high school athletics within the state.

As revealed last week, the state projects that it has $121 million less than it needs to operate during the next fiscal year and the Clark County School District is going to be required to cut up to $15 million from its budget. Perhaps $1 million of that latter total will be realized by eliminating the travel expenses associated with state playoffs and championship games in all sports.

If implemented, the north will have its champions and the south will have its, and never the twain shall meet.

This is an embarrassment that should not be tolerated and one that reflects poorly on us all.

It also heralds that the time has come for something to be done to correct the problem, assuming it is, in fact, legitimate.

I still don't think it is, of course, because by every indication -- beyond the governor's annual financial report -- there's only one conclusion: Nevada has money.

It has a steady revenue stream that runs through the casinos and it has an almost boundless growth that includes tax breaks for selected and privileged incoming businesses, such as one accorded the auto-racing industry just last week.

By all that's holy, Las Vegas should have the finest school system in America.

Yet it is typically ranked nearer the bottom than the top, the result of a lagging pay scale for teachers, crowded conditions for students, and, now, a lessening of importance in its athletic programs.

Perhaps the proposed disembowelment of the state playoffs will not come to pass and perhaps, as one expert told me, the threat of their abolition is being used as a scare tactic in that it's an emotional issue that will stir people into action.

It has stirred me into action, that's for sure, and it demonstrates more than ever that the casinos are not paying their fair share in taxes (and that there needs to be more accountability at every level of government).

While some Nevadans are becoming fabulously wealthy, are we to believe the state can't afford to bus a team from Las Vegas to Reno or vice versa to determine a high school champion?

What a disgrace.