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Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval speaks to the Las Vegas Sun editorial board Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012.
Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
When Gov. Brian Sandoval’s administration relented to public pressure and released agencies’ full budget requests, the total was stunning - $419 million, a 6.5 percent increase over what agencies had officially requested under Sandoval’s strict limits.
Quickly, the left and right tried to define these requests.
Conservatives said to ignore the list as part of a bygone process that led to bloated budgeting.
The left suggested that this is what agencies really needed to do their job. Sen. Debbie Smith, D-Sparks and chairwoman of Senate Finance, tweeted a story about the excess requests: “$419 million... and they were being conservative.”
So is the $419 million a “wish list,” as Sandoval called it, of items that would be nice to have if the state were flush with money? Or are they legitimate needs of a state government that has been cutting budgets for four years?
That’s the essential question for the public, lawmakers and the administration.
The list is 97 pages. Most are small requests — $58,000 for maintenance that had been put off at the Governor’s Mansion and $161,000 for reinforced doors at the psychiatric hospital in Southern Nevada, for example.
In interviews with agency heads, it’s clear they approached the added spending requests differently. Steve Hill, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said that he viewed the list as a place to put ideas if, as he put it, “the sky opened up and there was much more money than we anticipated.”
Others, such as Department of Education Superintendent James Guthrie, said his list included good programs for the governor to consider funding, but the agency “can limp on for another year or two if we have to.”
And other agency heads admitted they asked for items they regarded as “essential.”
Here’s a look at a handful of the requests:
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Vinil Narayan, 2, who is autistic, plays on the swing while learning communication with his mother Shika Narayan during a session with Jennifer Murdock, a developmental specialist with Easter Seals Nevada, outside his home in Henderson on Friday, March 16, 2012.
$5.2 million for children with autism spectrum disorder
The state, like the country, has seen a surge in request for autism services over the past decade. Even during budget cutbacks, the state has tried to keep up with the demand but has struggled.
The state serves 228 children in programs for children with autism. An additional 263 children are on the wait list that lasts an average of 206 days.
Under the current Health and Human Services budget, an additional 60 children could be served.
But to eliminate the rest of the wait list, it would cost $5.2 million more, according to budget documents.
That $5.2 million “is critical,” said advocate Jan Crandy, a member of the Nevada Commission for Autism Spectrum Disorder.
It’s the fiscally responsible choice for the state to make in the long run, she said. If children aren’t treated at a young age, they’re much more likely to require more intensive services — or even be institutionalized — later in life, at a much higher cost to taxpayers.
But it’s also a moral issue, she said.
“It’s very hard to tell a parent that it will take a year for their child to be picked up,” she said. “Morally, if we do not treat these kids, the likelihood is we have condemned them to a life locked in autism.”
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A Nevada Highway Patrol car is shown September 5, 2011.
$11 million for 199 highway patrol vehicles
Department of Public Safety Director Chris Perry said some of his agency’s requests are items that the department considers a priority but not essential.
For example, he wants $8.5 million to replace Nevada’s criminal history database, the statewide repository of criminals history used by various law enforcement agencies. Now, it’s run on 15-year-old computer software programs.
But Perry called the request for 199 new sedans, SUVs and pickups, at a cost of $11 million, “essential to perform our duties.”
So why not include them in the agency budget?
Perry said vehicle requests had, in the past, been included in the items for special consideration. But he also added: “It did not fit under our budgetary cap.”
Without new vehicles, the state would face increasing maintenance costs for vehicles that have already run through a useful life.
“What would happen is we would run the vehicles longer and there would be a greater chance of breakdown,” he said. “There will be a greater expense to repair vehicles.”
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Kindergarten teacher Julie Cohen teaches her students how to ask questions with a raise of hands on their first day of class Monday, August 27, 2012, at Cambeiro Elementary School in Las Vegas.
$24 million for all-day kindergarten
Guthrie, who was appointed by Sandoval, said the agency is requesting $24 million over two years to expand full-day kindergarten to more schools.
Currently the state spends about $24.6 million a year on full-day kindergarten for low-income schools. The rest of the schools are half-day.
The Department of Education request would increase funding for full-day kindergarten by $8 million in the first year of the budget and $16 million in the second year.
“The governor supports the idea,” Guthrie said of expanding full-day kindergarten. “The more we can do for small children earlier, the better.”
But, he said, money is the barrier.
He said the items in his agency’s budget are what he deemed crucial to the operation of the department.
The $83 million in total “items for special consideration” are add-ons.
“These are items we’d very much like to have,” he said. “But we can limp on for another year or two if we have to.”
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Job seekers look over a posting of jobs at the Job Connect offices on Maryland Parkway Tuesday, March 27, 2012. A new Brookings Institution/UNLV report confirms that while the national economy improves, the Las Vegas economy continues to struggle with high unemployment & stagnant or declining home prices.
$120 million — or $60 million — for economic development
Steve Hill, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said he thought of the items for special consideration as a true “wish list” for what the state needed to attract jobs here. That included buying space for a biotech industry incubator for $13 million and spending $10 million to foster the unmanned aerial vehicle industry in Nevada.
His agency listed a stunning $120 million over two years. Hill, in an interview, said that many of the spending requests were meant only to be funded once and were mistakenly included in both years, so the request should be closer to $60 million.
Still, even without double counting some items, he acknowledged the budget request was generous.
“It was a wish list," he said. "If the sky opened up and there was much more money than we anticipated, here are some of the budget enhancements.
“We can continue to operate the way we are without anything on the list. There’s nothing on there, that’s ‘Oh my gosh, if we don’t get that, we can’t continue to operate reasonably.’”
Here is what you do about the old police cars - Tow them to various spots around the State of Nevada and leave them parked along the highway. Ever so often have them towed to a new spot. Boulder City used to park a car in the median on the highway to get speeders to slow down. The locals of course zoomed right past, but the traveling tourists slowed down. The idea works in some spots.
$11 million for 199 highway patrol vehicles! Where do these guys shop for cars? I would bet "Chopper" could get them a good deal on Dodge Chargers. An average of $55,276 for each vehicle seems outrageously high. I remember from several years ago that a police agency in this valley put out a request for bids in order to buy some new police cruisers. The Lincoln dealer came in with the low bid, for Lincoln Town Cars. The police agency decided not to go with the low bidder on this for obvious reasons.
Some rural Nevada towns do the old car deal with Sheriffs cars, locals and trucker know about it but once and a while they put a real cop in the car.
No one reads a story like this because they do not care....have a story about a celeb not wearing panties and people will read it...this story is for hard core political junkies and advocacy groups..
Are they going to have special funding for fibromyalgia and ADHD too?
How much are you giving to metro to waste on a faulty radio system,more officers,and the officer mounted cameras that won't be used by officers,so they can hide the truth,and get away with beatings and murder?How much to settle lawsuits from all the coroners inquest hearings,that never give us they truth?You have just as many questions to answer as The GOOD SHERIFF GILLESPIE.What about all the wrongful death cases at the hands of Metro,Henderson,and the N.H.P.?
Jeffrey W Jarvis
The State Budget, $419 million for 2.72 million people works out to be a bargain at $154/person. There isn't a single corporation or privatization scheme in existence that could do the same for even 5x more.
Place a privatized entity in charge of the State budget and there will be an additional 20% for management perks, bonuses and golden parachutes if they loose the current contract.
$11 million for 199 patrol cars is $55,276/car. Maybe Reno requested microwaves and soda coolers? The modifications for lights, radios etc. are what generally boost the tab 2x upwards and more. Overall, not bad.
One thing for certain, funds need to be put back into the Department of Mental Health because it will not be long before those people with all kinds of Mental Illnesses will start shooting up Nevada. This is not isolated. Arizona and Connecticut incidents is not far behind us. Guv'nor Sandoval needs to start thinking about Mental Health funding instead of his Vice President bid.
I live in Las Vegas, and work at the Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health office. The people that come through those doors everyday, I am telling you, soon, we will have a serious problem like Connecticut. Some of these people need to be locked up in a long-term Mental facility. It has to be done, parents and guardians will not do the job as they say they can. Ask Virginia Tech, Wiscosin, Washington. Nevada gub'ment has to wake up and do the right thing, instead of lining their pockets.
Recall the lame duck.
$419 million is a bargain compared to Metro's budget.
That's right - Metro has a budget of over $500 million. That's HALF A BILLION DOLLARS!!!
Is it just me, or is something wrong here?
"The State Budget, $419 million for 2.72 million people works out to be a bargain at $154/person."
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Part of the drawback with open comments on newspaper websites is that you get people such as this who comment on things that they have no clue about. The state budget is far, far higher than $419 million -- the amount referred to is only for the excess requests above a budget that is at least $3 billion per year.
The State (Legislature) APPROVES the budgets for every city, county, and school district. WHERE is the ACCOUNTABILITY for excessive compensation? Why are employees and unions drumming for more and more money without considering many to most are so overpaid already? Get the firefighter and city pay scales down to something bordering on reasonableness BEFORE any revenue "enhancements" are considered. It may mean adjusting the SUT formula so that the State General Fund gets a bit more and the CCRT and LSST get significantly less--to insist that compensation be corrected.