Posted by Webmaster on January 20, 2009 under News
Tragically, Nevada’s local media continues to report falsely on the “cuts” to Nevada’s budget. They’ve got the same web tools as everyone else, and the freedom from space constraints that used to be their excuse for unclear reporting, yet they steadfastly refuse to show how they calculate the “30%” and “50%” cuts in their reports.
The reason is their calculations are wrong, or in some cases, they are fiction.
Thanks to Patrick Gibbons over at NPRI for this post today, which offers citizens links to source documents so they can verify truthfullness for themselves.
Posted by Webmaster on January 16, 2009 under Higher Ed, News
University Chancellor Jim Rogers’ grandstanding aside, the one-third reduction of taxpayer funding for Nevada’s system of higher education proposes to roll the clock back five or six years on spending.
Here’s the 2001 Appropriations Report, and the 2007 Appropriations Report. Together, they show student enrollment increase in the last six years was about 13.4% at UNR, and about 20.1% at UNLV.
They also show In 2002-03 the budget for UNLV, for example, was $140,300,576 (Ed Sect. web page 30). Six years later the legislatively approved budget was $270,250,842 (Ed Sect. web page 44), a whopping 92.6% increase.
The Gibbons proposal to prioritize government services and reduce NSHE tax proceeds by one third actually only reduces spending to around the same rate as enrollment growth.
“I would blow my brains out if I thought this was going through,” said Jim Rogers, apparently aching to take the place of Samuel Clemens in Nevada’s storied history.
Below is the University system spending since FY02:
| Year |
Total Spending |
General Fund Spending |
| 2001-02 |
$495,831,297 |
$346,845,022 (p.31) |
| 2002-03 |
$530,804,136 |
$370,593,608 (p.31) |
| 2003-04 |
$623,544,443 |
$482,655,305 |
| 2004-05 |
$660,235,771 |
$506,746,590 |
| 2005-06 |
$734,687,365 |
$557,374,664 |
| 2006-07 |
$792,195,555 |
$591,813,068 |
| 2007-08 |
$837,905,664 |
$639,293,540 (p.45) |
| 2008-09 |
$912,423,319 |
$677,091,932 (p. 45) |
Now, the Governor is proposing to reduce total spending down to a level that’s still higher than 2003/2004.
Posted by Webmaster on January 16, 2009 under News
Here’s your chance to be heard:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/polls/2009/
Posted by Webmaster on January 12, 2009 under News, Spending
When government takes money, it does so a little bit per taxpayer. When it spends money, it does so a lot per recipient. That’s why those who govern always find it easier to raise taxes than slow the rate of increase in government spending – there’s less complaining.
A rarity in the debate is an actual list of places to cut spending. Such a list was released this week over at the Nevada Policy Research Institute. Here it is.
Posted by Webmaster on January 10, 2009 under News
A UNR professor named Eliott Parker has emerged as the latest advocate of raising taxes rather than keeping spending flat or slightly reduced. Over the past month, he’s published advocacy essays in the Las Vegas Sun, while I’ve posted rebuttals both in the Las Vegas Review Journal and online at NevadaTaxpayer.com.
In Dr. Parker’s latest, he offers this bit of contradictory testimony:
Regarding how our state and university benefits compare to those of other states, I don’t yet have a consistent set of data on this, but I will look for one. If Senator Beers has one, I would appreciate him sharing it with me. I do know that we compete in a national marketplace, and our benefits are reasonably competitive but not any more than that.
So he doesn’t have a “consistent set of data.” Yet he is comfortable stating that our benefits are average.
Fortunately for all students of Nevada state and local government, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce published this report some months ago, which found:
- Nevada state and local retirement plan benefit payments are in the top five of all states (p. 37 & 38)
- Nevada is one of only six states that allow employees to not pay 6.2% of their gross pay to social security (p. 34 & throughout)
- Nevada’s local government and school employees in Clark and Washoe County are the only ones in America who contribute nothing out of their paychecks toward their retirement (p. 33). All other government employees (and, of course, all private employees) in America contribute a portion of their pay.
It is almost beyond comprehension that Professor Parker could have missed this report in his research, but NevadaTaxpayer.com is a patient instructor.
Posted by Webmaster on January 7, 2009 under Higher Ed, News, Tax Structure
An immense amount of planning and forethought has been invested by Jim Rogers in convincing Nevadans that our government has been already cut to the bone. No, beyond! Any more will destroy the state!
It’s gotta hurt, then, to wake up and read the Nevada Controller’s legally-mandated report on actual taxing and spending. Last fiscal year, state government spending increased 4.5% (although revenue “plummeted” by 2%).
We start with a media account of the critical 2008 CAFR. The actual CAFR will follow in a few days.
