Editorial: Improving efficiency

Thursday, May 19, 2005 | 8:57 a.m.

The Nevada Legislature is considering a proposal that would merge two statewide elected posts -- controller and treasurer -- and create a new elective office in their place: Secretary of Finance. The controller, a job virtually unknown to the public, reviews the state's bills and, along with the treasurer, co-signs state government checks. The sponsor of the constitutional amendment is Sen. Bob Seale, R-Henderson, who was treasurer for two terms during the 1990s. Seale has long proposed the change as producing greater efficiencies, and he estimates that $1.5 million in operating expenses could be saved every two years as a result.

Those who oppose the proposal -- which would have to pass the Legislature this year, again in 2007 and then be passed by the voters in the 2008 general election before it could go into effect in January 2011 -- say that eliminating the controller's office would get rid of one of the checks and balances to protect the state's money. But, as Seale notes, creating in effect a chief financial officer is common in the private sector and there is no reason why it can't be also be done in state government. Further, there will be accountability since the proposal would require the secretary of finance to appoint a deputy controller and a deputy treasurer.

The measure has passed the Assembly and is now in the Senate, where it received a hearing this week before the Legislative Operations and Elections Committee. No action was taken on the proposal, and some senators voiced skepticism about how much money would actually be saved, but we share Seale's view that combining the offices would result in greater efficiency and be a better use of taxpayer dollars.