Getting Our Money’s Worth From Nevada Government Spending
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
As Nevada Legislators move forward on their project to determine how they can expand the state’s ability to collect taxes, without having to face the constraints of falling tax revenue from current sources, any attention on the spending side of the equation is left to those who can’t reach into the state’s petty cash drawer and find $500,000 or so in discretionary funds for a study. Figuring out how to get a solid understanding of the state’s budget and spending specifics isn’t the easiest thing to track down, but we know that education (K through College) takes a significant slice of the state’s general fund spending pie.
This report on the Nevada Open Government Website, provides a picture of the actual spending for 2008, giving some perspective on how the state spends money.
Patrick Gibbons of the Nevada Policy Research Institute has done and continues to do outstanding work, identifying and explaining details relating to Nevada’s educational spending. In this piece, he shines the spotlight of understanding on the way the educational hierarchy for the state put their priorities on the input side of things, maintaining for any who will listen that educational quality can only be achieved through more spending.
Gibbons has also shared his insights into the consequences for the way in which state lawmakers have shielded teachers from accountability for performance.
More work is needed on not only better understanding details about Nevada’s spending on education, but also digging into all areas of state budgets. In the final analysis, we need to clearly comprehend the way Nevada legislators have fulfilled their responsibilities as our representatives. Their actions indicate that they expect no limits should be placed on their spending and that automatic, double-digit percentage increases in spending from one budget cycle to the next is also a requirement.
We don’t anticipate any legislative motivation for putting constraints on the way they spend money, but beyond doing a better job of electing who gets to decide how Nevada tax dollars will be spent, we might also wish to consider some type of restrictive state spending formula. Given the track record, we should weigh out the concept of putting in place fiscal responsibility measures which prevent the spending patterns that have required massive tax increases in two of the last four legislative sessions.
As Nevada Legislators move forward on their project to determine how they can expand the state’s ability to collect taxes, without having to face the constraints of falling tax revenue from current sources, any attention on the spending side of the equation is left to those who can’t reach into the state’s petty cash drawer and find $500,000 or so in discretionary funds for a study. Figuring out how to get a solid understanding of the state’s budget and spending specifics isn’t the easiest thing to track down, but we know that education (K through College) takes a significant slice of the state’s general fund spending pie.
This report on the Nevada Open Government Website, provides a picture of the actual spending for 2008, giving some perspective on how the state spends money.
Patrick Gibbons of the Nevada Policy Research Institute has done and continues to do outstanding work, identifying and explaining details relating to Nevada’s educational spending. In this piece, he shines the spotlight of understanding on the way the educational hierarchy for the state put their priorities on the input side of things, maintaining for any who will listen that educational quality can only be achieved through more spending.
Gibbons has also shared his insights into the consequences for the way in which state lawmakers have shielded teachers from accountability for performance.
More work is needed on not only better understanding details about Nevada’s spending on education, but also digging into all areas of state budgets. In the final analysis, we need to clearly comprehend the way Nevada legislators have fulfilled their responsibilities as our representatives. Their actions indicate that they expect no limits should be placed on their spending and that automatic, double-digit percentage increases in spending from one budget cycle to the next is also a requirement.
We don’t anticipate any legislative motivation for putting constraints on the way they spend money, but beyond doing a better job of electing who gets to decide how Nevada tax dollars will be spent, we might also wish to consider some type of restrictive state spending formula. Given the track record, we should weigh out the concept of putting in place fiscal responsibility measures which prevent the spending patterns that have required massive tax increases in two of the last four legislative sessions.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 10/20/2009 6:58 AM 
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Educational Spending Nevada State Spending Taxes
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Educational Spending Nevada State Spending Taxes
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