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twitterTHE FUTURE OF NEVADA :
More cuts, or progress?
State can no longer avoid dire consequences of a refusal to increase taxes
Leila Navidi
Phil and Rachelle Reynolds watch an educational television program with their sons Sebastian, 4, and Eli, 2, before the boys’ bedtime at their home in Henderson. Both boys have been diagnosed with autism, and the Reynoldses have struggled to pay for their care.
Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009 | 2 a.m.
SLASHING A THIRD
Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Legislature will craft a budget in the next 120-day session that will affect the state for the next two years. Without new taxes, the state must cut 34 percent out of a bare-bones budget.
WHAT WE’LL LOSE
In the past year, $311 million was cut from services that affect the neediest Nevadans especially. That includes Medicaid reimbursements, forcing some specialists to reduce care for needy children.
MORE OF THE SAME
With budget cuts to schools, universities and in economic development, Nevada’s economy will remain one dimensional, tied to the boom and bust of gaming and tourism.
Sun Archives
- Schools could cut teachers, athletic programs (1-9-2009)
- Teacher salaries in Gibbons’ cross hairs (1-9-2009)
- State should pay for defense of the poor, panel finds (1-8-2009)
- Home News Editorial: Nevada must demand health care reform (1-8-2009)
- State’s shortfall prompts Henderson budget concerns (1-6-2009)
- Gibbons shuns sessions on budget (1-4-2009)
Not since legalizing gambling or cleaning the Mob out of town has Nevada faced such a profound choice about its future — indeed, about its own identity.
The question, simply stated: What kind of state does Nevada want to be? ¶ At the moment, Nevada has delivered unprecedented prosperity to both a wealthy elite and average workers on the Strip and beyond, but the broader community is in sorry condition. Nevada has some of the lowest taxes in the country, and the state’s rankings and public institutions reflect that lack of funding.
Gov. Jim Gibbons will tell us what he wants Nevada to be in his State of the State address Thursday, and the Legislature will provide its answer when it gathers next month for its 120-day session to determine a budget for the next two years.
On its current path — the path of the first-term Republican governor — Nevada will be an adult playground, a tax haven and an experiment in modern social Darwinism.
Gibbons has asked agency and department heads to prepare a budget without a tax increase.
That means cutting the budget 34 percent, which would severely hinder the state’s ability to provide essential services, such as education, health care and assistance for those who cannot provide for themselves.
All the while, educated, middle-class people — a demographic widely believed to be necessary for Nevada’s future success — will examine the brutal landscape and question whether Nevada is where they want to raise their families.
That’s the outlook of more than two dozen Nevadans interviewed by the Sun: elected officials and agency heads, economists, educators and students, health care professionals and their patients, probation officers and the convicts they supervise.
Their assessment was universal: The state is failing, and cutting budgets by an additional one-third would be catastrophic.
Why is this happening?
Nevada faces a fiscal crisis, having for years relied on steroidal growth to fill its coffers in what amounted to a public Ponzi scheme, as one Nevada economist jokingly called it: Tax revenue from new housing developments and casino resorts was spent paying for the demands of growth that had occurred. But it was never enough. Schools were overcrowded, the justice system overworked, and so on.
Now that the growth — and revenue from it — has all but stopped, the crisis has worsened. The growing ranks of the jobless have turned to the state for unemployment benefits and health care — further burdening the state’s depleted resources.
State government, lean by any standard, reduced services and programs during the past year by cutting $311 million from the budget.
Dan Burns, the governor’s spokesman, won’t discuss details of the new budget proposal before Thursday.
But he said: “For 20 years, a long time, the state has done a damn good job providing the state with things they want, and things they need. We can’t afford things we want anymore. And the things we need? We’re going to have to take a close look at those things we need too, to make sure we need them.”
Burns’ claim of a state having met its needs is at odds with almost all empirical measures of the state’s well being.
The situation now
Nevada’s libertarian, tax-phobia roots have produced a weak safety net for those who can’t do for themselves, as well as substandard schools, a mediocre higher education system and a fragile health care infrastructure, according to nearly every state ranking of these services.
The cuts made in health and human services and education, which make up 93 percent of the state budget, as well as public safety, have especially affected the neediest Nevadans.
The state has cut by 5 percent the hospital reimbursement rates for those on Medicaid, a joint state-federal health care program for the needy but also middle class Nevadans whose private insurers have denied coverage for needed therapy. Another 5 percent cut is coming, forcing hospitals to cut services.
Dr. David Stewart, one of just five pediatric orthopedists in Southern Nevada, said the stormy health care climate has made it impossible to recruit a new partner to his practice — the pool of candidates is out of state, and potential partners look askance at Nevada.
Elissa Mandel, a Henderson speech therapist, has had to stop taking Medicaid patients because of cuts to pediatric providers, so she’s referring them to Julie Cole, who is considering cutting sessions in half so she can see more patients and make enough to cover overhead.
A plan to expand “empowerment schools,” which give money and autonomy to principals to create innovative schools, and which was a centerpiece of Gibbons’ education agenda, has been scuttled.
The universities don’t have the money to hire needed instructors, which means students can’t get classes they need.
Probation officers have excessively large caseloads, which threatens public safety.
Will Vegas become another Detroit?
And that’s the situation now, before a new round of cuts that will further darken Nevada’s chance at a stable and sustainable prosperity.
Here’s why: Economists and policymakers agree that Nevada needs to diversify beyond the tourism industry. Other cities that were once company towns like Las Vegas, such as Pittsburgh with its steel industry and Seattle with its airplanes, have become centers of health care and education, and information technology and biotechnology, respectively.
A city that never diversified: Detroit.
But without investment in better schools, as well as a solid health care infrastructure and university system, Nevada’s ambitious and much-touted plans to create health research and renewable energy knowledge clusters will lie dormant for years, perhaps a decade or more.
In other respects, short-term budget cuts may backfire over the long term.
Take Robin Laurent’s son Pierce, who is autistic. Laurent notes that the window of opportunity for intensive therapy to help him learn the rudiments of speech is closing for her son, who is 5. She fears budget cuts will jeopardize that therapy — and Pierce’s ability to be an independent and productive member of society.
“It’s critical they put funding into these kids when they’re little, otherwise it’s going to be 10 or 100 times (more costly) later on,” she said.
Pay now, or pay much more later.
Another example: Budget cuts in public safety will create even greater caseloads for probation and parole officers, twice what is recommended by criminologists. Higher caseloads could lead to higher recidivism rates, so budget cuts here could lead to more crime and drive up the cost of prisons.
(The state’s director of prisons, Howard Skolnik, has threatened to quit if the 34 percent cuts are carried out.)
Another example: 4,000 Nevadans sit on a waiting list for Nevada Check-Up, a health insurance program for the working poor, with a focus on children. Without health insurance, those families will turn to hospital emergency rooms.
That means longer emergency room wait times, more uncompensated care for hospitals facing rough financial seas, and higher insurance premiums for everyone else.
Federal money, federal mandates
Bill Welch, the president of the Nevada Hospital Association, said last month there’s serious talk in hospital boardrooms about avoiding nonpaying patients by closing their emergency rooms and turning their hospitals into rehabilitation, psychiatric or specialized nursing facilities.
If that happens, expect crisis at the troubled University Medical Center, the valley’s only public hospital and often the hospital of last resort for the poor and uninsured. (UMC has eliminated the high-risk obstetrical unit and outpatient oncology program.)
Edwin Suarez, a pediatric physical therapist, says he is losing money monthly because of Medicaid reimbursement cuts, and sometimes wonders if he should leave Nevada. Here since 1977, he has a family, investment properties and a plan — looking increasingly precarious — to expand his practice because he is one of just a few therapists who treat children.
Service levels in some programs are so inadequate that state government will likely confront a wave of lawsuits from residents who have a right to care and from the federal government, which attaches strings to the money it sends for Medicaid and other programs.
One such program is Nevada Early Intervention Services, which helps infants and toddlers with severe learning disabilities, autism and cerebral palsy. The program is so understaffed and has fallen so far behind federal standards, officials are considering rejecting millions of dollars in federal money and getting out of the business, just to avoid lawsuits.
Private insurance generally caps coverage for the intensive therapy these children need. So where will they go? The school district is required to offer services, but the most important developmental work happens between infancy and age 3, before the schools are required to intervene.
The governor’s staff is also considering rejecting the federal money it receives for Nevada Check-Up and shutting it down, which would make Nevada the only state to drop out of the joint federal-state S-Chip program, which Congress created in the 1997 to cover children of the working poor.
Deep cuts in education also come with long-term costs.
The Clark County School District, one of the largest and most troubled in the nation, has consistently struggled to attract good teachers, and a 6 percent pay cut for instructors, which the governor is considering, would most likely impede recruitment further. Already, teachers make 7 percent less than the national average, according to a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce study. Perhaps that’s why half of all teachers leave the district within five years.
The great aspirations of the state’s system of higher education are largely dead. Nevadans once proudly anticipated a robust University Health Sciences Center to help produce homegrown doctors and nurses, as well as universities that could contribute to the burgeoning green economy.
Although programs like these are the very remedy required for the sickness that ails Nevada — a one-dimensional economy — these aspirations now seem like the Christmas wishes of an impoverished child.
A community that cares?
As the Legislature begins its deliberations next month, Nevadans must also ask themselves a question that goes to the heart of our identity and poses a challenge as old as all the sacred texts of the great religions: Do we care for those who cannot care for themselves?
Mental health clinics in three rural communities have been shuttered. Personal care hours for the homebound infirm have been cut.
And so, here is the choice: Is Nevada a community that values knowledge, culture and progress, nurtures the young, cares for the sick and disabled and looks forward to a future of shared security and prosperity?
If the governor cuts as he has promised, and legislators don’t intervene, Nevada will be something else entirely.
Sun reporters Marshall Allen, Charlotte Hsu, Michael J. Mishak, Emily Richmond and David McGrath Schwartz contributed to this story.
Discussion: 52 comments so far…
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Jim Gibbons has been keeping his promise of not raising taxes on businesses, especially the hotel-rsort industry. As a consequence education from K-University has been cut to the basic barebones. Now, the good governor proposes cutting all public employees salaries, including teachers 6%.
Remember, he is the one that wanted to be known as 'The Education Governor of the 21st Century'.
He has done more to curtail education at all levels than any other governor in our history. If he cuts teacher salaries he can expect a mass exodus from this state. We will lose teachers faster than water flowing through a sieve...they will leave, and we will have a very, very difficult time replacing them....
Jim Gibbons has brass balls if he thinks he can get re-elected again. This man is the single biggest moronic disaster to hit Nevada... He is a true Republican, and the dream man the RJ has been looking for to demolish public education in Nevada, especially Clark County.
Mining and out-of-state-based corporations continue to pay next to nothing in taxes. The governor's "no new taxes" pledge makes the false assumption that the current taxes are fair. They are not - mining and Wal-Mart (and other non-gaming major corporations) get away scott free. We have a very high sales tax (which regressively affects lower income people the most), and Wal-Mart laughs all the way to the bank while charging Nevadans the same prices they charge in "Taxachussets." Governor Gibbons presents a false choice to Nevadans - he says the choice is layoffs or an across the board salary cut. He leaves out imposing a FAIR tax structure.
Taxachusetts, I often wonder how they survive there. They have universal healthcare. Excellent public and private universities. Mass transit everywhere, including trains and subways. A very low school dropout rate. But they have lousy weather. No casinos.
So you make your choice moving to Nevada. Basically, you get better weather, better recreation. And you can watch your children turn into tip-dependent dropout dumbbells. And you know all that traffic on I-15 headed South on Mondays? Not tourists anymore-it's Nevadans with health coverage headed to the hospitals in So Cal for decent care. How 'bout that colonoscopy center? So let's keep the taxes low and lower so eventually we can rename our state Mississippi West.
Raising taxes most likely will result in more layoffs to private employees.
The Sun and Democrats shed no tears for that.
Thank you for such a well-thought-out piece.
This is not budget management; this is class warfare.
This governor needs to go. What's the procedure?
By the way, you left something out of your "Why is this happening?" section. This is happening, in part, because people who live where the education system stinks don't make the most informed voters.
Yet another reason for Gibbons to want education to be demolished. It helps people like him to be elected.
While CEO salaries have grown at absurd rates, and the rich grow more and more bloated and disgusting, more and more Americans live in more and more debt, just to survive.
Wake up, Republicans. Your party exists for a small number of citizens, and most of you are not among them.
Gibbon needs to be removed from office. Please have a reporter write a piece on how that sort of thing works in Nevada.
Didn't take long for nance to jump in with the broken record. More taxes will hurt us. No solutions other than the lie that nothings really wrong.
We need to invest in infrastructure to grow and diversify. You wouldn't pick a Doctor or Lawyer based on who was the cheapest, nor would you pick a hospital that didn't have the newest or best staff and equipment, but that's what you want for education. The cheapest you can get.
Of course then there's the argument that schools need to "reform" before we put any money into them. Just like you take your car to the the mechanic and say "Get it working and then I'll decide how much to pay you."
This a a great article but this reporter neglected to inform the public of the unfairness and severity of Cuts in regards to the pediatric population in Las Vegas. Medicaid reimbursement was cut in hospitals by 5%; but with the elimination of the Pediatric Enhancement Rate, specialty physicians like Dr. Stewart and pediatric physical, occupational, and speech therapists (as well as other medical professional subgroups) were handed a 27%-33% rate cut in September. With overhead costs of some of these clinics, small business took upwards of 45% cuts in regards to their Medicaid clients. This is why we cannot continue to "make ends meet" and provide quality services to special needs children and their families of Las Vegas. There are some speciality physicians and therapists that have decide to no longer accept new Medicaid clients or seek other populations such as adults or clients with other insurances to stay in business. The parents of the children with Medicaid who are taxpayers and productive members of our society, are now forced with the decision of leaving this state in order to get (deserved) medical care for their children. They are faced with having nowhere in this community or state to get the services their children need and deserve! If they cannot find the necessary services for their children, the "window of opportunity" closes for improvement. Should they (families with special needs children) remain here in Nevada without speciality care, the state may have to pay much more to take care of these children as they get older. Without proper medical and therapsutic services when they are young and growing, these children may require more public assistance later.
The children of this community are our future. Medical and educational programs should be the last cut!
For those parents out there that already lost or are in fear of losing quality physician and therapy services... WRITE YOUR LEGISLATURE!!! NOW!!! We can change this in the next session starting Feb 2nd of this year!!! Demand that the Pediatric Enhancement Rate be reinstated and retroactive immediately so that your children can get the services they DESERVE within this state!!!!
If you want that model of high taxes and broad base taxes with a diversified economy then you should move next door.
They are having no problems.....LOL.
"If you want that model of high taxes and broad base taxes with a diversified economy then you should move next door."
Flippancy noted. Anything you want to say beside the same copy/paste "never raise taxes, let them eat cake" philosophy you spout? Or is that all you have in the tape player?
Ok. I really wish politics worked this way: In 2006 there were approx. 2.5 million residents in Nevada. If each one of us paid $100 dollars a year... Well, you do the math (though if you are a product of a Clark County education, you might not be able to). Call it a tax and people get upset. So let's call it something else. Maybe the "making our society a better place fee"?
But seriously, it's about showing in real ways how this money will affect each individual. Sadly, we are all often highly opportunistic creatures, and none us would support giving more money to a bloated bureaucracy, while education, health, transportation and any other public works gets a sideline to economic ideologies.
Nevada needs a political shift (in both parties) that more accurately represents its future, not its past.
DouglasDemocrat....as oppose to your "lets raise taxes" tape player.
High growth...raise taxes.
No growth....raise taxes.
That is all you guys say. Raise taxes.
Ryman....do the math.....we are already paying $1,000's of dollars in taxes.
Thanks, Patrick and all the writers and editors at the Sun for a very timely reminder of what is at stake. The anti-government types have reaped this harvest of shame in Nevada, but they will not be satisfied until they take this catastrophe and make it, well, apocalyptic. The sad thing is that when their family, friends or themselves are affected, when their ambulance is diverted from the nearest or best hospital because of overcrowded emergency rooms, or they are victimized by somebody who never had a chance at a decent education or drug treatment program, or they lose their job because the company they work for has finally had it with Nevada's crumbling social and physical infrastructure... Then it will be the "liberals'" fault.
"DouglasDemocrat....as oppose to your "lets raise taxes" tape player."
All we've done is cut, cut, cut. For the last two years, all we've heard is tighten the belt. Threatening to cut Nevada Check-Up? Cut salaries for teachers who are grossly underpaid (the averages are artificially inflated by the top-heavy administration who make well above the median)? No, that's a bridge too far.
We've tried it your way, and all you want to do is more of the same.
HELLO? In case you didn't notice, "more of the same" LOST in the last election.
"All we've done is cut, cut, cut"
I guess you have not heard. State spending has actually gone up the past year over the previous year.
Also, there have not been any cuts in forms of layoffs or pay freezes or pay cuts or benefits cuts which tons of businesses have done this year.
God forbid if a government worker suffers. It will be the end of the universe.
"State spending has actually gone up the past year over the previous year."
Is that before or after an adjustment for inflation? Are increases in federal grants and matching funds included? Is the increase in fuel prices and materials costs included? Or are you just claiming that because state spending went up, then we obviously haven't cut enough. Dollar doesn't go as far as it did in 2007, pal.
"Also, there have not been any cuts in forms of layoffs or pay freezes or pay cuts or benefits cuts which tons of businesses have done this year."
I told you a month ago that Gibbons announced a total wage freeze on all state employees. No step raises. No cost-of-living adjustments. It was on the front page of the Nevada Appeal in Carson City, for crying out loud. Benefit cuts were also approved at the same time.
And yes, there have been layoffs of state employees. At least 100 have been let go. There are also 2700 positions within state government that are currently vacant, and Gibbons may propose to keep them vacant.
Geez, do some flipping research. 15 seconds on Google is all it would take.
State spending went up 4.5% which is above the inflation rate.
"I told you a month ago that Gibbons announced a total wage freeze on all state employees. No step raises. No cost-of-living adjustments"
The governor has announce that but it has not happened. He also has said he wants to cut salaries by 6%.
Neither has happened. They are proposals.
You need to do your homework.
As long as 75% of all Firefighters make 120K per year and only work 10 days a month - all in the name of public service - I have no sympathy for stories like this.
The Sun can be the messenger of Cry, Cry Cry all they want. The simple truth is - Raise taxes on me and my business now, I will fire more people. Not because I want to, but because I have to to survive. And when I cant cut anymore (soon), I will close and file for unemployment and go on the states payroll.
Sorry for the bluntness - but I'm not buying into the pity party!
"He also has said he wants to cut salaries by 6%."
If he does that, there WILL be a lawsuit from the teacher's union, the police union, and the firefighter's union. Guaranteed. Neither Gibbons nor the legislature have the power to unilaterally break legally binding union contracts.
How much will the state spend to defend from that?
tbvegas,
None of those firefighters work for the state. They work for cities and counties. There is a big difference between cities and counties and the state government. And Douglas, the only contract for the state is the teachers. State police are under no contract nor do they have any rights and like I stated above, those firefighters work for cities and counties, not the state.
Not one cent...those contracts are with the counties not the states.
The state would reduce the funding to the counties that equal a 6% pay cut. It would be up to the counties to figure out what to do with the funding. They could choose layoffs over reducing pay.
It's all academic anyway - the state legislature will never agree to that kind of cut, and if it means overriding Gibbons' veto...so be it.
He's useless, and anyone who thinks he has a chance of winning reelection in 2010 is dreaming.
It is time for the casino industry to pay their fare share.
There will be tax increases...more like hotel room and mining. In exchange, for those tax increase there will be some deal about future state employee benefits, like 401K for new hires or no health care subidizies for new hires.
There will be a lot of cuts too. Most likely there will be layoffs on a the state level. The counties will get to decide if they want to pursue layoffs or salary adjustments.
tvegas and other who want casinos to pay more are fools. Casinos already pay more than one-third of the taxes in Nevada. We need a fair, broad-based tax that impacts all businesses evenly. Bill_in_Henderson is correct. The tax system is inequitable and it actually impacts casinos more than other businesses. Or else we need to talk about an individual income tax. If you "care" so much about education, you should be ready to pony up personally.
tvegas - you are very uneducated!
I am the casinos you talk about and let me spell it out for you - If for every dollar in new taxes there will be 3 dollars of payroll shed -Got it. One to pay the tax and one to administer the tax and one for the damage to revenues the tax will have. Simple!
(tvegas is not me, I am tbvegas - tvegas is an id!)
Looks like more and more people are opting for the lottery ticket than the casino tables. Wake up Nevada- we are not the only state with gambling- duh! Maybe it is time for a state lottery! I know the odds are worse, but I don't have to suck in the second and third hand smoke of a casino to take a "chance" on winning- and believe me, in Vegas- it is truly a chance (thanks Fratetti bros).
More than half of all states with lotteries have reported rising sales over the past six months, and some researchers say financial insecurity might be driving people to risk more of their money than usual on $1 and $5 instant scratch-offs and other daily games in hopes of a big payoff.
"Someday somebody is going to win and I hope it is me," said Albert Atwood of Nashville, who spends $100 weekly playing the Pick 5 and Lotto Plus. "I imagine that I would be a heap better off if I saved this money, but everybody has dreams."
Driven by regulars like Atwood and a growing number of occasional players, 25 of 42 states with lotteries have experienced higher sales of scratch-off and daily lottery games since July, according to Scientific Games, a maker of scratch-offs.
Senator Allison Copening is a big time believer of the state lottery.
You should urge her to promote her idea of the state lottery. She promise to get that done.
mailto:acopening@sen.state.nv.us
let the homeowners pay school taxes like the rest of the country and raise property taxes to reflect the state and city work forces you apparently seem to want to see grow daily into one of the costliest items you need to pay for and give even more benefits to your city and state workers,give them more paid days off.pay up or stop complaining.
Nance- thanks for the info! I don't always agree with you, but you do stay committed to your line of reasoning.
I do believe in the long run, state managers need to paid to save resources, not spending resources! Getting more from less is the way of the new world and we had better get used to it. Can we buy used cars for state operations? Lights should automatically go off if no one is in a room. Heat and power costs will continue to rise so we will need to do more with less.
Government is mismanaged mainly because of the pay plans. They have no incentive! If their pay was cut for inefficient operations, they would get it. School officials have no incentive for saving money- none! So we get what we get. This is a huge problem that will only get solved by placing a premium on efficiency, not just showing up for work! Cut managerial pay for those that can't cut costs of power, fuel, and overtime. They can do it, they just have had it too easy!
jfnance32:
You, Jim Gibbons and your lame lying party are about to become irrelevant. Suck it!
yup the gov must be blagovitch's bro - he should resign. It is clear that nearby states have better quality education, health care, and other stuff. Don't know if this wild west libertarian bent can be controlled long enough for there to be some services in the silver state for us silver haired and silver tongued folks who have come to enjoy our golden years.
I have been teaching in Clark County for eight years. In those eight years I have always worked more than one job to live in this city. It is expensive-utilities, auto insurance, groceries-even registering my car is more expensive than other states. Did you know Nevada has one of the highest auto insurance rates in the country?
I also spend the money I earn -in Las Vegas.
Like may teachers I spend my own money for supplies. We were told at the beginning of the year our supply budget would be minimal-I bought crayons, notebooks, pencils, folders, markers, glue, scissors. books, all the things parents assume the district will provide for their children. We buy kleenex and paper towels for our classrooms. Those who don't teach have no idea.
I love teaching. It is so exciting when children learn to read and write. When they have those "aha" moments learning math. When they have a million questions during science that come at me so fast I can't keep up. Our children are precious. This isn't about all the other garbage-it is about the future of our children. I don't believe the people in the state of Nevada have the same values as other communities-non-gambling-people move in and out of this city like popcorn and rarely take the time to know their neighbors. The lack of cultural opportunties for our kids gives one sorry message.
So much anger is spewed and riled up at the RJ- I wonder if this community has a serious pathology tied to it.
Yes, I have been told more than once if I don't like it-leave. I plan to-at the end of the month. Between the state government's lack of support for education and the community's disrespect and outright anger at teachers in general it is not a healthy place to be. I feel sad for the children of Nevada.
This article asks an important question-one obviously many who write here have never experienced and I hope never will-if Nevada doesn't care for those who are most vulnerable-children, elderly, disabled, what kind of society is it? Hope you are never laid off, or in need of rehabilitative care or an elderly relative needs nursing home care. Hope your children do not need care for an ongoing chronic medical condition. I hope, at some point, people realize this world isn't about money. I would gladly give my "six percent" pay cut to the school I work at. The quality of life isn't about money. If it is, I guess Nevada will be a bleak place for those who cannot afford to leave it.
Nowhere is this long article labeled as an "editorial" or "opinion," either on the Web or in the print version.
Yet, in the final two paragraphs, we are treated to this wonderful bit of scare-tactic editorializing:
"And so, here is the choice: Is Nevada a community that values knowledge, culture and progress, nurtures the young, cares for the sick and disabled and looks forward to a future of shared security and prosperity?
"If the governor cuts as he has promised, and legislators don't intervene, Nevada will be something else entirely."
Says who? The five "reporters" who worked on this story? Brian Greenspun? Exactly whose pro-tax-increase agenda is being expressed in the sum-up of the story?
Here's an idea: Either call it an "editorial" or keep your pro-tax, liberal agendas out of so-called news stories. You're not fooling the smart ones among us.
The economy is shrinking, and everyone is having to cut expenses. I that environment, it's realistic that the public sector is going to have to take it's share of cuts. I don't see why anyone thinks it should be immune.
It shouldn't be immune, in fact raising taxes would be the Detroit answer. It would also retard our ability to diversify the economy.
The only people the casino's should even be thinking about laying off are some of the middle management slugs who sit on their duffs making 'executive decisions' (much ado about nothing). These, along with the higher end CEO's etc. are the only ones the casino's pay a decent wage to - for everyone else the casino's barely pay minimum wage (and expect the employees tips to subsidize them into a livable wage). So why lay off cocktail waitressses or valet parkers - they're not costing didly squat compared to the deadwood sitting in the tower of plenty.
^
Because there are less drinks to serve and less cars to park. The the middle managers are getting canned also. 2-3 months ago, there was a story about MGMMM geting rid of a few hundred middle managers.
Tim O'Callaghan on Taxing Mining.
One Man's View
Henderson Home News
Dec 18, 2008
"Nevada could expand mining opportunities -- except we are one of the largest producers of gold in the country as it is. However, we are being pillaged by the mining industry. Unlike casinos, which pay a gross revenue tax on gaming winnings, the mining industry pays taxes on net profits after exemptions."
"Since 2000, Nevada miners have extracted more than $25 billion in gold from this state and have put a tiny fraction of that into state revenues."
"During 2007, mining operations extracted more than 6 million ounces of gold from Nevada. Next to water, gold is Nevada's most precious natural resource, and it is being sucked out faster than the waters of Lake Mead. By the end of this year, 8 million ounces of gold are projected to be produced in Nevada, with very little money going into state coffers."
Well let's just keep cutting the lowly minimum wage employee who is there to provide customer service - that's the ticket! When customer count is dwindling the LAST thing any business should want to do is lessen there level of customer service provided to the remaining faithful customers - having to wait longer and longer for a lousy beer just so the casino can save 6 or 7 bucks an hour on a cocktail waitress just doesn't make sense. Better to give good service and get rid of some of the 'made in China' junk they give away - If people think waiting 30 minutes to get 1 free drink is bad just imagine how thrilled they'll be when there is less waite staff and they are suddenly waiting 45-60 minutes - ya, makes me want to run right over - NOT!
Wake up Nevadans! This is the Wild, Wild, WILD WEST out here, don't you know? The only posters here who found this article disturbing, or found it ripe with commie leftist propaganda, are transplants from SOMEWHERE ELSE in the USA, somewhere else where people who value their children's health and education actually give a damn enough to be bothered to pay for it. This is social Darwinism at its finest. Nobody here in the Silver State gives two hoots in hell about anybody else but themselves (but are, nevertheless, incredulous about the overpaid public employees who offer inadequate services to them in their time need). The only thing your children are going to "discover" at the Lied Children's Discovery Museum (our claim to culture) as your family has to force it's way past a sea of mentally ill homeless vagrants living outside the front entrance, is that you are on your OWN here, and the best you can hope for is that you'll survive long enough to grow up, valet park cars, serve cocktails (while not getting groped by the governor in the parking lot) and avoid getting hit by an impaired local's automobile while waiting at the CAT stop. YEEHAW! (blast guns into air... and into alongside, unsuspecting minivan waiting at stoplight)
Nevada has the lowest casino tax in the country..they should have to pay more to steal money from the public.
Re: "Of course then there's the argument that schools need to "reform" before we put any money into them. Just like you take your car to the the mechanic and say "Get it working and then I'll decide how much to pay you."
I don't know how it works at your job, maybe you're in a government job where no matter how much you suck you can't be fired and always get a raise, but the way it works in the real world is yes, you FIRST perform, then you are evaluated and rewarded based on that.
The CCSD has sucked down billions upon billions with no appreciable improvement therefore they have no incentive whatsoever to ever deliver. After all, if they keep sucking and not doing their jobs, then they can convince the weak minded such as reporters at the Sun and many commenting here that the schools are somehow "underfunded". Unreal.
Re: "If he does that, there WILL be a lawsuit from the teacher's union, the police union, and the firefighter's union. Guaranteed. Neither Gibbons nor the legislature have the power to unilaterally break legally binding union contracts."
Then the answer is simple... the state should file bankrupcy. That would invalidate these BS contracts and we can start from scratch with something more realistic. Even better - public employees - PLEASE STRIKE! We can replace your useless butts so quick with people being laid off in California (not to mention those laid off here already) it won't even be funny.
Re: "While CEO salaries have grown at absurd rates, and the rich grow more and more bloated and disgusting, more and more Americans live in more and more debt, just to survive."
WAH WAH WAH! God... Do you really care what some CEO makes? There are people that make more than me - I don't care. I don't think I'm "entitled" to a share of it - they are already paying out the you-know-what in taxes - more a year than you'll ever pay. I do okay, but I used to live in my car. I worked my way up. I would suggest that if you're so concerned, that you first get Jim Rogers to fork up more of his nest egg for education - then you find the CEO you don't like making so much money, buy 51% of the shares of the company, and cut his pay - simple! Even Kirk K. kicked Steve Wynn out, so its not impossible. Hell, look at Sheldon Adelson - he made that money himself from WORK. Try it! (and hope that some group doesn't come along with their hand out waiting for their "fair share" of your profit.
Hey! I have an idea... all parents get together and decide how much the state should waste uhm.. I mean "spend" per child or whatever, then send them a bill for each child. That should end this argument pretty quickly.
There is a family down the street from me with 13 kids - rather than pointing fingers at the casinos, how about we have this family pay their "fair share" since they are "contributing" so greatly to our community with their ignorant spawn.
re: "It is time for the casino industry to pay their fare share." - yeah you typed that like a true CCSD administrator - kudos!
Hey - how can I get in on this public employee scam. I want checks for doing nothing! I can be like "CCSD Flooring Manager - Travertine Division III" and pick up my $120k a year. Maybe I can be the guy administering the guys keeping the jacuzzis and automatic curtains working in the administration executive offices on West Sahara.
The cuts facing the state will have a catastrophic effect on not-for-profit agencies that provide services to the poor, the uninsured, and the high risk population. Nevada Children's Center is one such not-for-profit.
2008 was a difficult year for us and equally difficult for most of the not-for-profit's providing medical and social services care. After the State of Nevada reduced our reimbursement rate 25% for the after school program in January, 2008, we were hit with a 40% decrease in reimbursement for the in-home treatment program.
This scenario is being played almost universally in Nevada's not-for-profit agencies. I worry that by the end of 2009, we might see 50% or more of these agencies close.
Ultimately, the under-served can only be assisted in the presence of a benevolent and compassionate society (or, the very least, a smart-selfish society with enough forethought to know that what we don't fix now will later be paid for many times over. In the case of the Center's children, society would pay through the cost of broken families, more foster care, increased psychiatric care, increased crime, and more prisons; In the case of those providing essential preventative care, increased cost of late or end-stage medical care to all taxpayers; And, in the case of education funding, a future of poorly educated adults with an inability to contribute competitively with better-educated citizens of foreign countries.). The slim majority of the Nevada population is proving to be neither benevolent and compassionate, nor smartly selfish.
We are divided between those who staunchly refuse any public-funding-based plan to bring this state into a more respectable standing, and those who want a society that is healthy, educated, and caring for one another-and are willing to pay for it.
Nevada Children's Center will do everything that it can to survive. In the mean time, the citizens of this great State must search their souls for the moral justification of turning our backs on the sick, the needy, and the youth of our society for to save a few bucks. And for those who find solace in the notion that they know the right moral path that man must walk, they now must ask themselves whether the representatives who they voted in office, actually serve, in the bigger picture, that path. I think that they will find that the ones in the trenches, educating the youth, serving the poor, the sick, and the destitute, walk that path with more grace and unprotested devotion, than any politician ever could. I cannot help but think that we are only as great and virtuous a people as the actions we take to pull the fallen to their feet, and the youth toward a greater tomorrow. Presently we are looking more and more like a selfish, that is a stupidly selfish, state. God help us all.
While yes the state needs to become more efficient, it's ridiculous how many people hate state employees/civil servants. While everyone complains how much better a business would run things, they forget something... they would do it for a profit.
So next time you drive down the street consider what would happen if a private company owned all the streets and made you pay to play.
Or how about those silly useless cops. They would love to prosecute a violent offender who broke into your house and raped/killed your partner, but they'll need a few thousand to run tests and cover salaries.
Or fire departments. Would you like to have to show an insurance card of some kind before they put out the fire and resusitate your kid?
Or schools. The lightning rod of the right/libertarians. Why don't we just make it entirely private, so only the middle/rich can afford to go to school? Or lets make it pay to play like college per class.
The fact is that society needs to provide for people. If you don't help the poor enough, well sans-coulettes might storm the Bastille and lop off your head later.
We don't pay enough taxes? A quick Google search shows that Nevada is the fourth highest taxed state! Number 1 is Connecticut, 2 is New York, 3 is New Jersey. Even tax and spend California only ranks number 8!
"A quick Google search shows that Nevada is the fourth highest taxed state!"
I think you should spend a little more time learning how to use Google. Those rankings are for beer/cigarette taxes only. The Tax Foundation actually determined NV to be 49th in tax burden, above only Alaska.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRele...
US Census says Nevada is ranked 25th in state taxes per capita .
I was about to say, Jeff. For crying out loud, people come here for the low taxes. If we were fourth, that wouldn't make a lot of sense.
"US Census says Nevada is ranked 25th in state taxes per capita"
True, but this is based on dollars per household. The fact that the US Census has Nevada 13th in personal income per capita means that while NV ranks 25th in tax dollars per capita, it would rank much lower if taxes were based on % of income, rather than raw dollar amounts. Thus, the 49th ranking by the Tax Foundation.
All I know is our children will suffer the most now and in the future. We need more money in the school system!
I am seriously considering participating in the nationwide fund raiser called "Lundon's Bridge Booking Millions for Schools" project. My friend told me a school keeps 50% of all gross sales of the book Lundon's Bridge! That is more money than my state is giving to our schools!