Budget director Comeaux to retire

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 | 9:42 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- John Perry Comeaux, who has prepared the last six state budgets under Govs. Bob Miller and Kenny Guinn, is going to call it quits in January.

Comeaux, 60, who observes his 25th year in state government this week, says he wants to leave while he can still walk away.

Guinn said Tuesday that Comeaux is "one of the most outstanding individuals I have ever had the experience to work with. He will be a great loss."

Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said Comeaux has a "great understand of the budget" and there was a "great working relationship," between the committee and the budget director.

He said Comeaux will be "sorely missed."

Comeaux and his staff work with the governor to prepare the budget every two years. The hardest times, he says, come when there is plenty of money. When a project is rejected for funding, Comeaux said the agency doesn't understand.

"It is easier to say 'no' when there is no money," said the former Florida resident who came to Nevada "for a little while" 25 years ago.

The most challenging thing in the future, he said, will collecting enough tax revenue to keep up with the growth.

"Growth does not pay for itself," he said, referring to the present tax structure. Comeaux said the 2003 Legislature made some changes in the tax structure that improved the system.

"The revenues are tracking the state's economy better than in the past,' he said. "The problem is keeping up with our growth."

Guinn said Comeaux is a "multi-talented" individual, handing all these duties and "He makes it look easy but it's not." The governor said Perry stayed in state government because of his "love for the state" rather than jumping to more lucrative jobs with less pressure.

When a new governor takes office in January and must have a budget ready for the Legislature in February, having Comeaux as budget director makes it easier for the new chief executive, Guinn said.

Guinn said Comeaux is willing to adapt to the new suggestions of the incoming governor.

"He made it flow," Arberry said of Comeaux's handling of the budget. "We could sit down and work out our issues.'

Comeaux said the Legislature "treated me with courtesy" but added it did not always agree with the recommendations in the budget.

"There are some fine people over there," he said about the Legislature.

Comeau had served 12 years on the Public Works Board, which oversees the state's construction projects, and he was a member of the Committee on Benefits that managed the state's health insurance system for state workers.

His most recent project was the installation of the $50 million computer system to handle the state's payroll, personnel system and accounting.

"It came in on time and within budget," he said with pride.