Assemblyman outlines proposals by agencies to cut

CARSON CITY -- State agencies have proposed cutting their budgets by
$819 million in the coming two-year budget period, Assembly Speaker-elect John Oceguera said Tuesday.

The reductions include cutting basic support for public schools and full-day kindergarten programs, ending a senior citizen property tax rebate program, reducing funding for mental health services and no longer providing dentures for people receiving Medicaid, the free health care for the poor, blind and disabled.

In a presentation to the Clark County Commission, the Las Vegas Democrat spelled out cuts that have been proposed by state agency directors in response to an order by Gov. Jim Gibbons to trim spending by
10 percent.

But for incoming Gov. Brian Sandoval to balance state spending with expected state tax revenue, even those cuts will not be enough. Additional cuts of as much as 7 percent must be made.

"There are horrible things on that list," Oceguera said in a phone interview. "The cuts are $819 million, and they don't even get us there. I don't believe the public realizes the extent of the problem and what the cuts will mean to the state. That is what I am trying to do."

Oceguera said that he has met with Sandoval staff members to express concerns about budget cuts and that they are open to having regular discussions.

He said that one plan calls for increasing the number of past offenders that parole officers are supposed to oversee. But he said that their current caseloads already are "several times" the national average. Increasing caseloads would lead to a reduction in public safety, he said.

Jan Gilbert, a legislative lobbyist for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, called the proposed cuts "horrible." She said some of them have been reported by the Department of Health and Human Services, but others were unknown to her.

"If you cut out adult day care for some of these people (as proposed), then you have to put them in institutions, and that is not a savings," she said. "It's hard times, but every dollar you cut is taken out of the economy and worsens the recession."

PLAN, an association of liberal-leaning unions and groups, soon will come out with its plan to increase revenue that will include a profits tax on businesses, Gilbert said.

State Budget Director Andrew Clinger has refused to give reporters the list of cuts proposed by state agencies. Sandoval has vowed not to say what cuts his budget will include before he releases it to the Legislature on Jan. 24.

A Department of Education spokesman said that under state law, her agency is not allowed to release its budget request proposals.

Gibbons does not leave office until Jan. 3, and Sandoval must have the next two-year budget ready to go to state printers by Jan. 8, which leaves him little time to make big changes.

Sandoval has vowed to cut state spending rather than increase taxes, and his aides have made clear that he might try to take some local government and school district revenues to support state programs.

Unless he can find non-state sources of revenue to fund services, Sandoval would have to cut state spending by an average of 17 percent for each state agency. Because of declining tax revenue, Sandoval must try to balance a two-year state budget with about $1 billion less in revenue compared with $6.4 billion in current spending.

In his presentation to county commissioners, Oceguera said the actual shortfall is $2.7 billion.

To end furloughs and keep spending at current levels, Oceguera said the state budget should be $8.1 billion, not
$5.4 billion.

Among the 10 percent in proposed cuts are the following:

■ Reduce the approximate $5,000 annual per-student funding to public schools, cutting the already limited funding for full-day kindergarten programs and for education technology and career education programs. Such reductions would force school districts to lay off some teachers unless they have other funds available.

■ Eliminate the senior citizen property tax rebate program, the problem-gambling program and senior citizen mental health outreach programs.

■ Close the Nevada State Prison in Carson City and eliminate the extra pay correctional officers receive for working in remote rural prisons.

■ Increase the Parole and Probation Division's general supervision caseload ratio to 80 offenders per officer. Currently, each officer must see 70 offenders.

■ Eliminate almost all optional services provided through Medicaid, including in-home personal care services, adult day health care and home-based rehabilitation services, dentures for adults and some vision services.

■ Cut further the rates paid to skilled nursing facilities for Medicaid clients.

■ Eliminate state funding for the mammovan breast cancer detection program.

■ Eliminate all funding for nonmedical room-and-board expenses for mental health treatment for children not in custody of the Division of Child and Family Services.

■ Reduce the number of beds available at the Nevada Youth Training Center juvenile correctional facility in Elko.

■ Reduce support for individuals with mental illness.

■ Eliminate Southern Nevada's Mental Health Court and cut by 50 percent a similar program in Northern Nevada.

Review-Journal reporter Scott Wyland contributed to this report. Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.