Editorial: We can’t keep going on like this

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 5:28 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: Sept. 22, 2002

Last week Gov. Kenny Guinn, faced with a dip in state revenues, ordered cuts to government programs so that the state's budget would be balanced. The reductions amounted to about 3 percent of the state's budget, and much of the sting from the cuts was lessened by delays to the start-up of some new programs and a hiring freeze. But that can't ignore the fact that most agencies in state government -- unlike their better-off agency cousins in local governments -- are bare-boned operations with meager staffs that are struggling just to provide a nominal level of services to Nevadans.

When the governor recently asked state department heads to prepare their cuts, there was a concern that mental health services would get hit hard, especially since a round of budget cuts in the early 1990s resulted in long-lasting damage to the Mental Health Division. It wasn't until recent years that mental health services finally started to recover as more money was pumped into them by the governor and state lawmakers. Although the cuts to mental health services weren't as severe as anticipated, it's a shame that they had to be made at all.

In a state as prosperous as Nevada, it is a disgrace that we can't pay for what most states would view as essential government services, including enough money for education. The reason for this is that governors and the Legislature, Democrats and Republicans, have refused to raise taxes to pay for services because they feared a voter backlash come election time. There now, however, appears to be a growing recognition among a number of candidates that an increase in taxes, and a more stable tax structure, will need to be passed by the 2003 Legislature. Nevadans can no longer wait for politicians who refuse to create a decent tax system that would pay for essential services year in and year out.