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StumbleGibbons: Layoffs in next round of budget cuts
Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009 | 11:55 a.m.
Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons answers media questions Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, at his Capitol office in Carson City. Gibbons is considering another round of budget cuts and a possible special legislative session to deal with Nevada’s fiscal woes.
Sun Coverage
CARSON CITY - Gov. Jim Gibbons said today that layoffs will be part of the next round of budget cuts if state tax revenues continue to fall below projections.
In the first three months of the fiscal year, taxes have come in $53 million below projections earlier this year. So far, the state has cut programs and furloughed state workers to deal with the recession, and Gibbons had maintained that he wanted to avoid layoffs to prevent a further increase in the state's unemployment.
When asked today at a news conference in the capitol whether layoffs would be part of the next round of cuts, Gibbons didn't hesitate to say yes.
How deep the job cuts could be is still unclear.
Gibbons has asked departments to prepare proposals to cut 1.3 percent and 3 percent. Those scenarios will be presented to the administration by Dec. 15, Gibbons said, and could include further program cuts, extended furloughs or pay cuts or layoffs as agency heads see fit.
"Each agency has the authority to deal with the shortfall the best they can," Gibbons said.
Additionally, Gibbons said he will sign an executive order calling for the state's Economic Forum, made up of business leaders, to meet and report back by Jan. 19. The Economic Forum looks at the various taxes and predicts how much money will come into the state. Their projection binds how much money the Legislature can spend.
There are many things Gibbons can do with approval from the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee. Gibbons said as a "last resort" he would call the Legislature into a special session to deal with the shortfall.
Nevada's part-time Legislature is not scheduled to meet again until early 2011.
Lawmakers from both parties have downplayed the need for a special session to deal with the economic shortfall, arguing that financial moves such as transferring funds from one fiscal year to another are enough to limp by.
The Legislature last year authorized the governor to tap a $160 million line of credit, but they also built that money into the state's budget.
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Salaries need to reduced and some positions cut. 89,681 Nevada state employees. Read the entire list. Enjoy.
http://transparentnevada.com/salaries/al...
So what about the education law that needs to be changed to qualify for those federal dollars? Shame on Jimbo and the legislature for not being adamant about calling a special session.
a special session means that little gibbons monkey would actually have to work...
hee hee hee...
is that little gibbons monkey the laziest governor in america???
Special sessions cost extra money...maybe that's why they didn't call one? It doesn't excuse them for not getting things done in the allotted amount of time, but I don't see how throwing good money after bad would help
info4you2see, you said:
"Salaries need to reduced and some positions cut. 89,681 Nevada state employees. Read the entire list. Enjoy."
That's not correct. According to that site there are 20,084 State employees. http://transparentnevada.com/salaries/20...
Like so many, you're confusing local government employees that have unions, collective bargaining, and contracts with State employees that have none of those things, and lumping them together.
Everyone you see on the first pages of that site is employed by Clark County or Henderson, not the State. (Just imagine if they had the data for the City of Las Vegas and the City of North Las Vegas to include also)
Some quick checking based on the transparent nevada site produced this comparison:
Clark County - 15.2% of employees make $100,000 or more a year.
City of Henderson - 15% of employees make $100,000 or more a year
State of Nevada - 2.5% of employees make $100,000 or more a year
Borrow money or cut jobs?
"The Legislature last year authorized the governor to tap a $160 million line of credit, but they also built that money into the state's budget."
CRIMINAL -- there aught to be a law prohibiting the borrowing of funds to support government's theft-n-spend agendas.
Job cut priority should be made from the highest compensated to the least.
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Holy smokes info if all those people took a 50% pay cut that would be huge. but that would be like asking metro to investigate itself.
My recommendation: fire Gibbons.
wow--great link info--i can't believe that almost 300 firemen make over 200k a year---you got to be kidding me. In the top 800 salaries over half are in the fire dept! Easy to see what department is raping the $hit out of nevada tax dollars. I really can't believe it--what a joke.
thanks, liberals.
Sorry. Website tracks all public employees that reside in the State of Nevada.
"Currently tracking 89,681 public employees in Nevada and $4,250,968,207.59 in taxpayer money."
Jackson:
You are correct. State employees are not overpaid by any means. When I worked for the attorney general's office, my pay was actually much less than I made in the private sector. You factor in other things such as self-financed pension plans, the furlough days off with no pay - the salaries come down quite a bit. Also, we worked very hard in the division I was in so everyone earned their salaries. There were no free rides.
"thanks, liberals"
See, now THAT'S some funny stuff right there.
Gibbons plans to cut because the people who predict revenue couldn't do math.
The funny thing about that? The people who predict revenue? The five member board? The majority are appointed by Gibbons.
Jim Gibbons' incompetence leads to more cuts.
What a surprise!
Fire the little Gibbons monkey...
The only thing Gibbons knows is to try and balence the budget on the backs of state workers. With the furlough, no step raises, and no longevity, the average reduction is allready greater than 12%. But wait, the Love Gov exempted his staff and even gave them raises. Gold mines will take $ 8 billion out of Nevada this year, but will pay less than $30 million in state excise taxes.
The fireman need to take pay cuts!!! By at least 50 percent!
We as taxpayers hired this person to do a job that we thought that he was qualified for, I did not vote him in. Is he really qualified, look at his record, it appears that he is in it for himself and his cronies. So many people are on unemployment already. It just sickens me that he would want to consider cutting more from state employees, the benefits have decreased, there is no longevity, no step increases, no COLA increases, instead, there are pay cuts and the health insurance costs are climbing. If he wants to keep it fair, tax everyone, not just those working hard for the state. If I say anymore, I will just anger others. Not all state employee's goof off, there are those that work very hard and take their jobs quite seriously. It really makes you want to feel proud to work and reside in the State of Nevada. Nothing like being a native Nevadan. Did he take a cut in pay? I don't think so.
The only jobs that need to be cut, is the self destructive Gibbons and his corrupt associates, cut their jobs, and our Great State will be just fine.. Jesus, when is the nightmare going to end????
Gibbons is going to pocket and take everything he can lay his hands on, for the next year. Gibbons knows, he will not be re-elected, so hold on Nevadans, keep a close eye, on this corrupt politician.. Gibbons is going to look like Santa Claus stuffed full of our hard earned money..
quote is that little gibbons monkey the laziest governor in america???
He's not lazy. He's just busy hanging around with all his so call girlfriends!!!
Jackson,
Thanks for that link to State salaries; it was truly eye opening!
Others: check it out. You will be quite surprised to see where our money goes.
Remember the Nevada State Legislature, the people elected to represent you, set the salary and compensation scedules for state workers. State workers do not have collective barganing rights like the city and county workers and they are are paid much less.
Revenue is down; they need to balance the budget. The transparency sight is an eye opener, but keep in mind the numbers include benefits.
We need a 1.3 to 3% reduction. No one wants to give up earnings. If they are looking at terminating State, County, City employees to balance the budget, wouldn't it be better to reduce earnings and keep the workers? In some cases we are currently paying a lot of overtime, reducing the staff is going to create more overtime.
We definitely need better oversight of the union contract negotiations; these wages and conditions are a bit over the top.
A fireman getting paid more than the President, what a joke.
The list is not a salary list, but a pay and compensations list. So it appears it is including health and other benefits. It might al.so include overtime pay which I suppose is a way that employees can really inflate their pay,
Listen....no question he's going to have to cut much deeper into this budget.But the deficit will not go away period. With fewer tax dollars coming in from property owners,sales etc. It will only get worse. He didn't create this mess only inherited it like all governors across this country.Resales on homes are going to be impossible if they can't reduce the property tax on that property. No one I know would pay property taxes on a $525,000 house that is now worth $260,000. I wouldn't. This is only one of a long list of issues to be addressed.Clearly you can't reassess property taxes...that will double your problem.
try floating a constitutional amendment to CHANGE the current form of government; cut the representatives and state senators in half; cut the administrative budgets in half; eliminate ALL expense accounts and personal vehicles; cancel ALL credit cards amd cell phone and blackberry services.
votegibbonsout.blogs.com
Fire them all.
Yessir. Sending more folks to the unemployment line, and cutting other working-stiffs' salaries; GREAT IDEA! What a thoughtful Christmas present for our faithful public employees! NICE!
Will that clown Gov'ner Gym put the notices in a nice-looking Christmas stocking, as one would a bonus? Nah. He'll make em' all sweat over the Holiday Season, worry over whether or not they are looking at a pay-cut or an outright job loss.
HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas, everybody!
By the way, here's how Gov'ner Gym will be spending HIS holidays!
http://aroundcarson.com/tags/governorsma...
There can't possibly be another state in the Union that has 2 absolute scumbags like Gov'ner Gym & Johnny Ensign.
He'll make em' all sweat over the Holiday Season, worry over whether or not they are looking at a pay-cut or an outright job loss.
The "layoff" rumors started way back in the springtime, ie May, possibly sooner. The talk all the time from everyone in the state building was "when are the layoffs going to start?" So everyone has been talking/worrying about this for months and since the gov has now actually said it, I'm sure the worrying is at a peak right now. In the dept I worked in at the ag's office, there were 3 of us with low seniority. All of us were constantly wondering when the other shoe was going to drop; my shoe dropped first! I knew when I took the job it was never going to be permanent and couldn't even see myself there for a year and I was right. Bad time to accept a job with the State of Nevada!! I also know from the "building gossip" that some state departments are overstaffed with a lot of lazy people who don't pull their fair share. But because they belong to the Union, still keep their jobs.
It will be interesting to see how this goes.
Ahh, the saga, the endless stinking trail of scumbag and dirty deeds, shoddy at best, outright selfish, peevish, deceitful, conniving and boorish as we focus on accomplishments, leadership, dedication to duty and consideration for his purview.
Remember where you were when you first knew we had a leader who was a total slacker bum at a time when we kinda needed vision, collaboration and a sense of humanity and ended with gymbo wasted in a parking lot grabbin' ass.
I would like to make a suggestion. This is a suggestion in which it can be proven that Nevada would save almost $1,000,000.00 in a very short period of time. I am suggesting that the Nevada Transportation Authority and the Taxicab Authority both be abolished and merged into the Department of Public Safety.
These two agencies are rife with inefficiencies that cause a wasting of precious resources. They both enforce violations of Nevada Revised Statute 706 (Motor Carriers). Their missions are similar and they often have areas where they cross paths. While they are regulatory, both agencies have sworn law enforcement staffs that would be better supported in DPS.
If the Governor and and Legislature concur, merger could take place within 30-90 days. The savings as a result of the merger would be significant. In addition, the enhanced enforcement capability that would result from the merger would make the industries that are presently monitored and regulated by the NTA and TA much safer. The combined "Commercial Passenger Transportation Division" of DPS would be competitive for federal grants as well as maintaining its "Self-Funded" status.
Without merger, there will continue to be inefficient regulation and monitoring of the industries that are served by both the NTA and TA. I know the inefficiencies are very true. The problems that exist in both agencies could be reduced or eliminated if they were merged into DPS.