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Another $250 million in cuts will be needed out of the state budget, according to the five-member Economic Forum that met Friday.
The Economic Forum sided with the executive branches' more dire predictions of state revenues, increasing the hole that lawmakers will have to fill in next week's special session of the legislature.
Gov. Jim Gibbons today announced he will delay the special session until next Friday to give staff more time to prepare.
The Legislative Counsel Bureau started today saying an additional $94 million in cuts would have to be made. The administration put the number at $242.8 million. The Economic Forum, made up of five business leaders, acted as referee.
The cuts are on top of the $914 million in cuts and savings already accrued.
First major decision was on gaming, where the bureau was $45 million more optimistic than the administration.
MGM Mirage executive Cathy Santoro led the fight against optimism, offering a grim view of the near-term gaming in Nevada.
The Economic Forum settled on a unanimous 2 percent increase from fiscal year 08 to fiscal year 09. The Legislative Counsel Bureau had predicted a 5.4 percent increase. The budget division had put it at .6 percent.
Then the big one of the day: sales and use tax projections. On this one, the Legislative Counsel Bureau staff and governor's were $71 million apart, again with the bureau offering a more optimistic view.
The Economic Forum went unanimously with the executive staff numbers, which hold that there will be a 3.6 percent dip in the current fiscal year compared to last year, then another 3.6 percent dip. Final numbers won't be out until later.
But of course! They are all pals of Sig, right?! Of course they go with the Govenor on this!
This is what will happen.
1) Democrats will never agree to delay the COLA
2) Democrats do not have the guts to raise taxes...thank God!!!
3) Democrats and Unions will propose "easy" cuts that in previous yes they have declared that the "budget is cut down to the bone". Wow all it took was some motivation and magically they are finding stuff to cut!!!
4) State workers are going to be laid off including some in the education department
The average teacher salary is around $45,000. Take that salary times 4% (COLA) times .9 take home rate divided by 52 weeks and you will get around $31 a week for the raise in take home pay.
If there were willing to delay that $31 a week take home raise for one year, then there would be no layoffs.
Does not seem right...............
LOL, of course now that Gibbons agreed that there would be no special session, then the next day he called a special session for Monday June 23rd, now he postpones it until that Friday. This guy sure likes to play games or is he really that inept.
Oh wait, don't answer that.
Diversity Alliance for Sustainable America. www.earthtimes.org/ stated in it's article that if the U.S. grants amnesty and gives citizenship to 12 to 30 million illegal migrants, as Senators Obama and McCain propose. All those naturalized citizens could possibly add 120 million U.S. and foreign-born relatives to the U.S., in the next 20 years whom ALL CONSUME ENERGY. Then again, if America adopted the SAVE ACT ,millions of illegal aliens would leave these shores, gas would be more obtainable. Today our highways are clogged with vehicles, but since Arizona started clamped down on illegal workers, the road traffic has thinned out. Along with nuclear energy, wind power, off-shore drilling these resources and other avenues might sustain us for years to come. Drilling for oil, natural gas in the gulf or both oceans, has new innovative methods that will not cause contamination. You must decide your children's future, your jobs by demanding Democrats sponsor the Federal SAVE ACT (H.R.4088 enforcement in the workplace) Call toll-free (2022243121 )
NUMBERSUSA. Tell everybody..!
When is Gibbons going to let the Legislature know that he moved his Homeland Security office and his personal fusion center out of the State Emergency Operations Center in Carson to some other location. Show us the leases you broke and signed, GUBE!
You want state workers to be accountable, so should you!
Good point about illegals. They cause the population to grow and it will cause more demand on energy.
Since they consume less energy in the poorer countries, then they should stay there to save the planet.
The only real fix is for top state leaders (and you know who you are) to perform a fearless evaluation of the state's tax structure and figure out why those with the most money pay the least proportion of what they take in. (Notice I didn't say what they "earn.") Then, determine what a responsible government structure is for emergency services, public health, k-12 and University System, roads, highways, freeways, criminal justice, prisons and other necessary AND LEGALLY REQUIRED SERVICES, and compare that with what we take in now. The current year to year patch-job approach may have worked when the state had fewer than 1 million permanent residents. But it no longer works. It's becoming a tragic comedy as it's allowed to play out on the front pages of our newspapers and on the 6 o'clock news on TV. If the people of Nevada don't demand REAL solutions instead of short-term band-aids. This kind of behavior is providing gas for the ACLU's fire over prison inmate medical care and care for the rest of the state's "uninsured" not to mention higher costs for indigent legal defense and all the rest.
You can't call Nevada a state of the union when the economy's good, but then run the place like a wild west territory when the tourists stay home. None of our elected leaders would dream of running their family budget like they appear to be running the state's.
Good points, DM, but they would require a rational, mature approach to this problem which is entirely lacking on both sides.
From the overt overtones this is going to be little more than a political grudge match to see which side can make more mud stick on the other side.
Crises, like accidents, are always a preplanned event.