Nevada releases agency spending wish lists

CARSON CITY – State agencies have requested
$1.2 billion in additional funds to cover what they believe they need during the 2013-15 budget period, according to information posted on the state budget website.

Gov. Brian Sandoval had resisted releasing this information last week, arguing he did not have to release it by law. He relented after Democratic politicians and reporters complained that the law requires him to make it public. Gov. Jim Gibbons had released these special requests two years ago before Sandoval replaced him as governor.

Sandoval had argued that many of the supplement requests would not be in the budget he will release on Jan. 16 and that it would be misleading to indicate he will support them.

The requests revealed Friday include a $16 million Department of Education request to expand full-day kindergarten, a political issue that has led to clashes between Democratic backers and Republican opponents for 20 years.

Now only a limited number of schools in lower-income communities have full-day kindergartens. Attempts to put full-day kindergarten in more schools have failed since the state went into a recession in 2008. The administration held no news conferences to explain any of the additional requests Friday.

A spokesman for state Senate Democrats said he would not make any comments on the requests until the list was fully reviewed by legislators.

Geoff Lawrence, the director of policy for the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute, said legislators and Sandoval should disregard the requests and instead build a performance-based budget based on today’s priorities.

“The requests released today are a relic of an old, dysfunctional system,” Lawrence said. “Nevadans recognize that agency requests produced through the old budget system are completely meaningless today, and these requests should be ignored.”

Of the additional funds sought by state agencies, $420 million would come from state tax dollars, the rest from federal grants and other sources.

The additional money state agencies seek is far more than the revenue state government has to spend. Legislators would have to pass a tax increase of
$400 million to $500 million to cover the costs and Sandoval has pledged to veto any new taxes.

On Oct. 15, state agencies requested spending of $6.46 billion in the 2013-15 period, about $279 million more than the current $6.2 billion budget. But the preliminary requests included only current spending and the estimated amounts for caseload growth.

Then on Nov. 30, the state Economic Forum made an official estimate that state revenue in the next two-year period would be $343 million short of current spending. Its estimates are binding on the governor and Legislature in passing the next budget.

Sandoval, however, has announced his support to continue up to $620 million in taxes that otherwise would expire on June 30.

Even if those taxes are extended, revenue still would be about $500 million short of what agencies have requested in their ongoing and special request budgets.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.