Jon Ralston explains why it’s up to lawmakers to come up with real solutions to real problems

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.

If you don't think this state's finances make the University Medical Center's look logical, consider:

Four years ago the state passed the largest tax increase in history, just to keep up with growth. The result: Hundreds of millions in surplus dollars are discovered and a meaningless rebate is enacted.

Two years ago, swimming in money, lawmakers spent more than ever before. The result: Hundreds of millions in surplus dollars again appear, but a meaningless rebate is not considered.

Now, with the Economic Forum's pronouncement this week that we are $110 million in the hole a few months after the latest surplus was announced, does anyone really think that decades of Band-Aid budgeting every other year and reliance on sales and gaming taxes are the enduring answer?

Just three months after Gov. Jim Gibbons declared "our economy is robust" and "the state of our state is strong," Nevada essentially is broke. This fast-growing state, with a rickety public education system, porous social safety net and crumbling roads , is tapped out. In fact, cuts supposedly have to be made because those economic experts say the money train has stalled - cuts that will hurt, cuts that are meaningful, cuts that should not have to be made.

What sayeth the governor?

On the need for more money: No new taxes. On education: Empower principals. On roads: Let's study some more.

He is as bankrupt as the state appears to be.

What sayeth the Gang of 63? They are just full of taxing ideas, but none of them can count to 28 or 14 votes - the two-thirds necessary in each house. Democrats want to fund many wish lists but won't necessarily coalesce behind any solid plan on how to do so. Republicans might approve something on roads - still a big if - but we are still waiting for the consensus list of budget cuts to make government more efficient.

So who should pay as services continue to be cut, schoolchildren continue to languish in subpar conditions and many Nevadans and most Southern Nevadans suffer on overcrowded roads.

Maybe those who brought us Governor Read My Lips and the Gang of 63 should bear the burden. Consider two recent news items:

News Item No. 1 - Mineral income in Nevada reached a record $5.1 billion last year, an increase of $1.4 billion over 2005. Nevada remains the nation's foremost gold producer and has never been more profitable, it seems.

News Item No. 2 - Nevada casinos won $12.6 billion in 2006, compared with $11.6 billion the previous year. The Strip win increased by almost 11 percent and many of those companies were investing millions in far-flung Macau.

Other industries also are worried about being tapped to make up the budget shortfall. The homebuilders recently sent a missive to lawmakers that highlighted the housing slump. Trust me - the subtle message was not that this isn't a good time to sell your house.

And what about for-profit hospitals? Or insurance companies? Or the construction industry?

They are all rich. Can't we siphon some cash from them, too, to pay for roads, textbooks and mental health facilities?

See, if you are around legislators for too long, you start to think like them. And the way too many of them think is that they want to fund the state's needs, but they need to fund their campaigns, too. So fear of unelection often trumps responsibility.

It's too late to expect any leadership on this issue from Gibbons. The governor has painted himself into a corner - a corner big enough only for himself and the relatively small part of the GOP base that remains loyal. If he breaks his no-tax pledge, he will be even lonelier.

So it's up to lawmakers, many of whom have been up there long enough to recognize this cycle of cobbling together taxes and then two years later realizing some of the levies didn't bring in enough money. We are now looking at the proverbial end-of-session train wreck, with an intractable governor butting heads with legislators of both parties who want to spend money on what they see as necessary projects.

The guaranteed result is that we will be right back here two years from now , we will likely have to blow through a statutory spending cap to meet needs and may have even more serious cuts to make. But at least we got those surplus checks a few years ago.

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