University officials continue to press lawmakers for funds

Monday, April 11, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

University system officials continued their quest for more money at a joint legislative finance committee hearing Friday, pledging promises of saving elsewhere.

For instance, Gov. Kenny Guinn recommended that the state's institutions receive 84 percent of their formula funding levels, and system officials are arguing that it needs to be 87 percent to meet the institutions' needs.

But updated enrollment figures also show that Guinn over-estimated the cost of funding the University and Community College System of Nevada formula by about $23.46 million, system consultant Dan Miles told lawmakers.

The state's institutions receive funding based on the number of full-time equivalent students over a three-year, rolling average.

The Legislature could chose to redistribute that money elsewhere, Miles said, but if lawmakers let the university system keep that money, they'll be bumping up the formula funding to almost 86 percent without spending a dime over the governor's current allocation.

It would cost another $14 million to $15 million to bring the whole system up to the 87 percent level, Miles and Dan Klaich, vice chancellor for legal affairs, said.

A similar problem happened in reverse in the 2003 Legislature, Miles said, when Guinn recommended the system be funded at the 86 percent level, but then under-estimated how much that would cost.

Because of a budget shortage at the time, lawmakers lowered the funding level to about 84 percent and kept the governor's monetary allocation the same.

"We want to keep the dollars the governor has allocated," Klaich said.

The system similarly asked to keep about $7 million in savings from other adjustments to the budget and from revenue in student fees for operational needs the governor didn't include in his proposal.

"The savings almost equal the requested amount for our appeals," Miles said, a comment that drew laughter from Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.

Raggio said the state's gaming collections dropped off 30 percent recently, causing a $23 million decrease.

"It's funny it's the same amount," Raggio said. "So I guess you can kiss that $23 million (for the formula funding) goodbye."

Raggio said that just because there were savings in one spot doesn't mean the university system automatically can use that money elsewhere, given the large number of demands on the state general fund from other entities.

"We need justification for what we are doing," Raggio said.

Both he and Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, suggested that the system may need to look at increases in tuition for Nevada students to cover costs. Currently students pay about one-quarter of the actual cost of their college education, with the rest subsidized by the state and other resources.

At the same time, several lawmakers at the joint committee hearing said that many of the system's requests, such as money for new technology infrastructure, are needed.