Budget cuts are easy. Really.
April 21st, 2007 . by Mark Warden
As I’ve been pointing out for some time now, there is plenty of fat to cut from the state budget. This was confirmed by the state budget director in an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on April 18.
Since we all know that government bureaucrats love more bureaucracy and support it at most levels, we can assume that there is a LOT MORE where that came from, meaning that the director’s cuts are probably conservative and need to be expanded.
According to the article, “a projected revenue shortfall of nearly $137 million has been erased with a series of cuts and recalculations of Nevada’s budget needs for the coming two fiscal years, state Budget Director Andrew Clinger said Wednesday.”
“Now, the nearly $7 billion spending plan proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons is slightly in the black. The biggest single factor in the budget revision was a reduction in the expected caseload of Medicaid recipients. That change alone, state Health and Human Services Department chief Mike Willden said, cut the projected revenue shortfall by more than $50 million.”
Fifty million dollars! Just like that! I say, that’s a good start. Keep cutting.
The story continued, “while there are cuts in some programs, including mental health services, Willden said there will be “few if any” actual reductions in services to individuals. Clinger said he would describe the cuts in proposed new initiatives as modest.”
“A $110 million one-shot appropriation to the Nevada System of Higher Education to build its multi-campus health sciences system has been reduced by $15.8 million. That would be accomplished under the governor’s plan by cutting a renovation of the Shadow Lane Campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.”
“A $10 million project for stream restoration has been cut to $5 million.”
“A $5 million-a-year economic development program recommended by Gibbons has been eliminated, saving another $10 million.”
These are the very kind of cuts I have been recommending for months. You can see more of them at www.BudgetWatchNevada.com.
The largest cuts must come from the two elephants of tax spending: Human Services and Education (especially higher ed). We all survived just fine on the budgets of 4 and 2 years ago; we don’t need yet another 10% increase in spending, after a hefty 21% increase in the prior biennium.
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2 Responses to “Budget cuts are easy. Really.”
[…] Mark Warden at Budget Watch Nevada sends kudos to the government of the State of Nevada for somehow finding the will and the way to cut their budget. Imagine that, a State of the Union actually reduced their costs! Mark’s post, Budget Cuts Are Easy - Really!” is the place for all the details. And the rest of us add our congratulations to Nevada’s Legislature as well. Maybe such fiscal responsibility will infect your other 49 brothers and sisters along with the District of Columbia …James Whittington has outdone himself this week. It was hard to choose from all that he offered us but I finally decided on his post ‘Never, Never, Never Quit. James reminds us, in the aftermath of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s observation that “The war in Iraq is lost!”, that Winston Churchill said, ” Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” […]
[…] Welcome back for another thrilling edition of the Conservablogs Carnival! You already know the drill, so without further ado (or a-don’t) here are this week’s tasty offerings …Mark Warden at Budget Watch Nevada sends kudos to the government of the State of Nevada for somehow finding the will and the way to cut their budget. Imagine that, a State of the Union actually reduced their costs! Mark’s post, Budget Cuts Are Easy - Really!” is the place for all the details. And the rest of us add our congratulations to Nevada’s Legislature as well. Maybe such fiscal responsibility will infect your other 49 brothers and sisters along with the District of Columbia … […]