Gibbons won’t propose ideas to fill growing shortfall

By David McGrath Schwartz

Published Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | 7:03 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, March 18, 2009 | 7:57 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons told legislators he will not provide them with proposals to fill a budget hole, in the latest testy feud with Nevada legislators.

Gibbons responded to a letter that Assemblyman Morse Arberry sent after the state's budget director testified earlier this month that there was a growing deficit in the budget Gibbons submitted to the Legislature on Jan. 15.

"The Nevada Constitution requires that I propose a balanced budget to the Legislature," he wrote. "Once that budget is proposed, it is up to the Legislature to decide whether to accept or modify that budget."

Gibbons said revenue projections will constantly change, and he will only submit budget amendments to address federal stimulus dollars or after the Economic Forum meets May 1.

While Gibbons' budget balanced out when he submitted it on Jan. 15, his office later revised revenue projections from a room tax increase, creating about a $60 million hole in the budget. Gibbons also reversed course on a plan to that would have gotten the state $31 million, by making casinos pay taxes when they issue credit, instead of when they collect it.

Arberry, D-Las Vegas and chair of Assembly Ways and Means for the past 15 years, wrote back a scathing response.

"I am truly amazed with your assessment that the Governor's responsibility ends when the proposed budget is submitted for review by the Legislature," he wrote. "I believe you are the only Governor in at least the past 30-40 years that would make such an assertion."

He said waiting until May 1 to make budget adjustments is "unrealistic."

"If any budget amendments that you choose to submit are received too late in the process, the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means will be forced for the first time in my 15-year tenure as chairman of the committee, and possibly the first time since Nevada became a state, to make decisions without further input from the Governor."

Josh Hicks, Gibbons' chief of staff said the governor "simply indicated that he was unwilling to make ad hoc recommendations."

He said they would submit a budget amendment soon for the stimulus and then again after new revenue projections in May.

"Any recommendations will incorporate and address the most recent revenue projections from the Budget Office," he wrote in an e-mail message.