Editorial: Decimating state services

Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007 | 1:18 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons should not be going it alone as the state faces a budget crisis brought on by slumping sales and gaming taxes.

In October the governor unilaterally announced that he was directing state agencies to make plans to cut their budgets by 5 percent. At that time he exempted K-12 education, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety.

In November, as the state's spring revenue projection appeared to be falling short by an even wider margin, he told the affected agencies to prepare 8 percent cuts.

On Friday he revised his directive once again, telling school and prison superintendents, as well as public safety officials, that they, too, were to prepare for budgets cuts - of 4.5 percent.

The trouble with Gibbons' management of the revenue shortfall is that Nevada's agencies are already grossly underfunded. Chancellor Jim Rogers, head of the state's higher education system, told Sun columnist Jon Ralston in October what he thought about cutting his budget. "When you start with half a staff and you start to cut that, pretty soon you're down to nothing left."

Rogers' comment, in our view, was applicable throughout state government. Nevada's public services have historically been in the adequate to less-than-adequate range, owing to exceedingly lean budgets. Nevada absolutely cannot afford cuts in its schools, prisons and public safety agencies.

A reasonable governor, facing this same crisis, would call the Legislature into special session and propose stable tax increases sufficient to meet the state's needs. But we have Jim Gibbons, whose signature issue in his campaign for governor was his irresponsible promise not to raise taxes.